We All Fall Down
by GrayWolf84
Summary: When the Duke boys get tangled up in a bank robbery, expect the unexpected... Rated T for upsetting scenes, action violence, and some language. Feedback encouraged!
1. We All Fall Down

**Author's Notes: Alright, I tried, I really did, but I'm too impatient - the end ain't quite done yet, but I've been through the beginning with a fine-toothed comb, an' I'm posting it. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 1: We All Fall Down**

**Afternoon, friends! Welcome to Hazzard, where there's usually trouble afoot and the Dukes are always a part of it! I'll warn ya, though - if you're faint of heart, you're not gonna want to see this story, especially this first scene. _I_ already know what happens, and even _I'm_ gonna close my eyes - you might want to too.**

**Now**

"_Shhh, Bo, don't move, baby, it's alright, don't move, I'm here, honey, it's alright…_"

_Daisy sounded upset. Why was Daisy upset? Bo wanted to tell her, he was fine, don't worry, don't cry. But he couldn't move, couldn't look up, couldn't speak. Then he felt it. God, oh God. Everything hurt so bad…_

_"Shh, you're gonna be okay, baby…"_

_A flash of pain flared up at each spot her gentle hands touched, his shoulder, his ribs, and he moaned. Then she touched his leg, and the last of his strength washed out in a wave of black fire._

**See there? I toldja.** **You can open you eyes, now - at least for a little bit.**

* * *

**Then**

"Luke?" Uncle Jesse's voice woke him. "Are you alright?"

No, definitely not. He sat on the floor of the bathroom in his pajama pants, where he'd fallen asleep against the cool wall after spending a good hour retching the contents of his stomach into the toilet. Luke didn't know if it was something he'd eaten or just a flu bug, but he was one sick puppy, shivering miserably. Jesse crouched down next to him and felt his forehead.

"Let's get you back in bed."

Jesse helped him stand and stumble down the hall to the bedroom he shared with Bo, who slept on undisturbed. It wasn't dawn yet, still the early dark hours of the morning, as his uncle pushed back the blankets and eased him down. Luke was exhausted, and sleep claimed him again before Jesse even covered him up. The Duke patriarch found another blanket and added it on for good measure, before quietly slipping out to go back to bed himself. Let him rest - Jesse would check on him again in the morning.

**Now friends, it looks like one way or another, this just ain't the Dukes' day. Then again…**

----------------------------------------

Bo whistled as he drove along, gunning the engine and flying around a curve, throwing dust into the air. He laughed to himself - nothing beat takin' the General out for a spin on a bright Hazzard morning. 'Cept having Luke, or maybe a pretty girl, along with him, Bo thought with a glance at the empty passenger seat. Luke had been sleeping when he left, down with the flu Uncle Jesse said. But, today was the first of the month, and with Daisy at work and Jesse at home keeping an eye on Luke, only Bo was left to make the mortgage payment at the bank in town. Uncle Jesse was insistent on Bo getting to the bank early with the payment, to be sure there was no trouble, but that didn't mean he couldn't make a jump or two in the General on the way there…

Smiling happily, Bo drove on into the main street of town. The General was running beautifully this morning, if he did say so himself, and that jump had been pure poetry in motion. Even better, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of Rosco or Enos by the time he pulled up in front of the bank, which meant A) the mortgage payment would be on time without a problem, and B) poor ol' Luke wouldn't miss the fun of outrunning either of them. With a bounce in his step, Bo went right on into the bank, money safely in his pocket.

Surprisingly enough, nothing between the door and the teller's window prevented Bo from making the mortgage payment. He thanked the teller for the receipt, one less payment to worry about, and tucked the paper into his shirt pocket. Whistling again, Bo reached for his car keys and walked towards the front door. Then the door opened, and two men walked in.

"Well, I'll be! Joel and David Flanagan!" Bo greeted them cheerfully. They were brothers, one each Bo and Luke's age, born and raised in Hazzard. They'd left to find their fortunes some six years ago, taking with them the only real racing competition the Dukes ever had. Both had dark brown hair, mussy like Luke's, green eyes, and sturdy features. They were dressed in jeans and t-shirts, brown and tan leather jackets, with bandanas tied loosely around their necks. Both smiled back at Bo, and he reached out to shake their hands in turn. "It's been ages, what brings you back to Hazzard?"

"Oh, this and that," Joel said lightly, the younger of the two. "Hey, is that the General I saw parked out front? How's that old horse running?"

Bo grinned. "Better than ever!" The last time the Flanagans had seen the General, it was through a cloud of dust as Bo left them behind and took a $500 tri-county prize. "We ought to get together, if you're gonna be in town for a few days! You still have the Black Diamond?" he asked, referring to the brothers' old racecar.

David shook his head. "Naw, we lost the Diamond in Texas a few months back, to this double-dealin' old skunk worse than Boss Hogg even."

Bo whistled. That was pretty bad.

Joel brightened, though. "Hey Bo, I'd love to see the General again. Ain't nobody anywheres that could work a car like Cooter and you Dukes, 'cept maybe me an' David here. Do you mind?"

"Well sure! I'll wait for ya out front, if ya like." Bo missed the significant glance Joel gave his brother.

"Oh, no, that's alright! I'll come out with you now, and David can finish up in here. Right, brother?"

"Right. I'll be out in just a few minutes."

"Well, alright!" Bo grinned, always happy to show off his prized orange car, especially to former rivals. Joel followed him out the door, and the day could hardly get better.

Chatting with Joel the whole way, they made for the General parked down the street. Bo popped the hood, then hopped in the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition, revving the engine a few times while Joel admired the timing and the craftsmanship from out front.

"Whoa, this is great, Bo! Better than the Diamond ever was!" Joel exclaimed, walking around to the driver's side.

"Want to take him for a spin?"

"Do you mind? You don't have anywhere else to be? Where's Luke, anyhow?" the younger Flanagan quickly scanned the nearby roads and square.

"Ah, he's got the flu, back at the farm. It's just me today, an' Uncle Jesse doesn't expect me home until later."

"Great!" Joel shut the hood, making sure it latched, and walked to the passenger side, climbing in through the window with practiced ease. Inside, he got into the back seat. "Hey, pull up over in front of the bank, so we can pick David up."

Bo, with his trusting nature, readily complied, easing the General out from the curb and driving up to the front of the bank. In just a moment, though, he realized his mistake. David Flanagan came bursting out of the bank doors, gun in one hand and a full canvas sack in the other, the red bandana covering his features.

"What…" Bo began, twisting around in his seat to look from one brother to the other. Joel leveled another handgun at him, and his friendly smile took on a nasty edge. His choices taken from him, Bo turned back around, angrily slamming his hands on the steering wheel as David climbed into the orange Charger.

"Drive," Joel ordered.

Bo drove.

**Now, if y'all didn't see that coming from a mile away, then I've got some oceanfront property in Colorado to sell ya.**

----------------------------------------------------

The chase was as fierce as any Bo had ever driven, maybe more so this time because Rosco and Enos both thought he was truly guilty. He could hear them talking to each other on the CB and calling for Sheriff Little to be waiting at the county line. Enos sounded upset, shocked that a Duke would sink to armed robbery, and he gave no quarter as he hung close to the General's tail. The icing on the cake was that Rosco, walking out of the jailhouse at the time, thought it was Luke climbing into the General with the loot.

_What have you gotten yourself into now, Bo Duke?_ Bo thought to himself. David Flanagan held the muzzle of the gun to his ribs as he flew along the dirt roads, the metal jabbing painfully on sharp turns. The brothers were all too familiar with Bo's skill at the wheel and the dirt roads of Hazzard, so any trick he might have tried, they'd be sure to catch. Not only that, but they might come after Daisy, Uncle Jesse, or Luke if Bo couldn't stop them on the first try. Clearly his old racing rivals had changed, and Bo wasn't willing to push to find out how much, or how far they might go.

Up ahead, the trees cleared out on either side of the road, and grassy fields spread out towards the distant hills. A side road split off to the left, and Joel Flanagan smiled as he recognized it.

"Take Deerhorn Road," he ordered, and his brother ended Bo's brief hesitation with a jab of the gun muzzle.

"Watch it!" Bo protested angrily. "I'm going, already!" He was angry with himself, as well. Deerhorn Road led to a broad creek with a little-used bridge that had been washed out with the spring flood, and the county hadn't gotten around to repairing it yet. Bo might have tried to claim it was impossible to safely jump the 60-foot creek, had he not bragged to Joel earlier about smoothly crossing it that very morning. Rosco and Enos would never be able to make it, and it was miles to the nearest sturdy bridge.

Skidding through a puddle of mud, Bo sighted on the creek just ahead. A pile of rubble and dirt displaced by the flood made the perfect jump ramp. Bo floored the gas and made straight for it, Rosco and Enos close behind. The General hit the rubble-ramp square on, leaping high into the air and soaring in a graceful arc across the trickling creek.

No sooner had they landed than Bo was jabbed painfully in the ribs again, and he floored the gas and squirmed to pull away from the blunt metal. As the General fled the creek, Bo looked back in the mirror to see whether Rosco and Enos were crazy enough to try the jump. The sheriff and his deputy fared about as well as usual as Rosco tried to follow, landing halfway across the creek in the middle of the flowing water. Enos pulled up at the last moment, skidding to a halt at the edge of the flood-washed bank. The weight of the cruiser crumbled the unstable edge, and Enos was sent sliding nose-first into the water.

The scene retreated in the distance as Bo turned a bend. Since Rosco and Enos both looked alright, Bo forgot his situation for a moment and laughed. It was always worthwhile to see Rosco sputtering indignantly in the drink. Unfortunately, the thieving brothers saw the sheriff and deputy lose the chase as well, and they smiled to each other.

"I knew you could do it, Bo!" Joel sneered from the back seat, slapping his shoulder with mock-camaraderie.

Bo scowled. "Good, then let me go!"

"Oh, I don't think so," David said. "At least, not until you drop us off at our car on Blackburn Road. Then you'll be free to run along and take the rap for us."

**I tell ya, friends, for growin' up a couple of Hazzard good ol' boys, these two sure turned colors when they left town. I'm thinkin' Luke was the luckier one this morning, down for the count at home with the flu.**

----------------------------------------------------


	2. Short of a Miracle

**Author's Notes: Hope the back-and-forth switching isn't getting to anyone. All will become clear - or at least clearer - in Ch. 3, which will be posted tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Short of a Miracle**

**Now**

_Luke sat in the chair next to his cousin's bed, shoulders hunched and staring bleakly at the metal railing. Twenty-two hours he'd been sitting here and in the waiting room, waiting, hoping, praying, with Uncle Jesse and Daisy and Cooter. Twenty-two hours. It had become clear to the hospital staff, after one argument with Jesse and two with Luke, that visiting hours did not apply to the Duke family. Twenty-two hours and Bo had woken up but once, for a few short minutes this afternoon. Luke couldn't remember his younger cousin ever being hurt this badly, through all their escapades. First unconscious, then doped up on sedatives…he'd already been in for two emergency surgeries, and the doctors were talking about a third, to repair the splintered bone in his thigh. _Not that it matters_, Luke thought bitterly. Uncle Jesse didn't know he'd overheard the doctor's words…word…_that_ word._

_"Luke?" Uncle Jesse and Daisy stood in the doorway, and Jesse came inside, placing a hand on his older nephew's shoulder. "Come on, you won't be gone long. Me an' Cooter will be here with him."_

_Luke looked miserably from his uncle to Bo, and pulled himself to his feet. They'd already had this argument, and he was too tired to repeat it. Jesse put an arm around his shoulders, as much for his own comfort as Luke's, and Daisy wrapped an arm around his waist from the other side. As they walked out together, the Duke patriarch looked back at his youngest, his little boy. Bo looked peaceful, despite the black bruises, the braces on his neck, arm, and leg, the bandages covering broken ribs and ragged patches of road rash on his face and chest, the oxygen mask, IV's and machinery attached to his still body. His little boy…_

_Cooter quietly greeted Luke, Daisy, and Jesse as they passed, his expression just as miserable. "It'll be alright, Luke, you'll see," the mechanic tried to be encouraging._

_Luke nodded automatically, but he was lost in his own wretched thoughts. Jesse let him go and stayed behind, while Daisy walked with him down the hall and out to the garage. They were headed for a little diner down the road. Daisy and Jesse insisted that he needed to eat something, after his 48-hour famine, and Luke was sure Daisy thought the fresh air would help a little. But his gut was an iron knot of fear for his baby cousin, and he knew nothing would help. Nothing short of a miracle._

**Now, if'n y'all are wondering just what happened, don't you fret none - you'll find out soon enough, and it ain't a pretty scene. Y'all might be better off just skippin' on to the end.**

* * *

**Then**

Luke sat at the kitchen table, still in his pajama pants and wrapped in a robe and slippers. It was mid-afternoon, and despite the warm spring sun, he felt cold. He sat very still, mentally ordering his stomach to settle without much success, and wishing he hadn't tried that nibble of dry toast. Sips of water had been okay, but the toast was too much. Daisy watched him from the counter as he took several slow, careful breaths with closed eyes. Then in one swift, pale, green movement, Luke dashed from the kitchen down the hall to the bathroom, and was sick again.

_Poor Luke_, Daisy thought, and got up to dispose of the plate of toast. She'd only just finished work at the Boar's Nest, and came on home to do her daily chores. Uncle Jesse asked her to keep an eye on her cousin, and had gone out to work on the fencing back behind the barn, not even a half-hour ago.

As she dropped the toast into the scrap bucket to feed to the pigs later, a familiar sound caught her ears, and she looked out the window. Bo was racing up the drive in the General Lee, throwing mud high into the air, and clearly not just for fun. _What now?_ It was no small matter – Bo hid the orange car out behind the barn and bolted into the house breathlessly.

"What's going on?" Daisy asked as he burst through the front door.

Bo grinned impetuously. "Oh, the usual. I'm wanted for armed robbery. Luke, too."

"How…?"

Just then, they heard another engine in the distance. Rosco's sodden squad car came through the trees at the gate and up the drive. Bo's grin fell and he looked around wildly for a place to hide.

"You led him back here?.!"

"I thought I lost him!"

"Go!" Daisy urged him. "I'll stall Rosco."

"Thanks, Daisy!"

Bo ran for it, but Rosco was quick on his feet for once, and was at the front door before Bo could reach the back door. He ended up ducking around the corner and down the hallway to stay out of sight.

"Alright, Daisy!" Rosco chortled gleefully. "I've got 'em, I've got 'em this time! I know they're here, where are they?.!" he demanded, looking past Daisy's shoulder as she blocked his way.

"Rosco, I don't know what you're talking about, but you can't come storming in here like this!"

"What I'm talking about? I'm talking about _me_ finally arresting those good-for-nothing cousins of yours, Bo and Luke Duke, for armed robbery! Khew khew! Don't you tell me they're not here! I hear them back there!"

'Them back there' was Luke finishing up in the bathroom. Rosco started to push his way past Daisy, who protested fiercely. Bo heard him coming and slipped back down the hallway into the boys' bedroom, just as Luke stepped out of the bathroom.

"Oh! I see you there, Luke Duke! You just freeeeze right there!" Rosco ordered the young man, who looked up at him wearily from the middle of the hallway. He didn't know what was going on, but he didn't much care for dealing with Rosco just now. Ignoring the sheriff, Luke pushed the bedroom door open and walked in. He sighed, catching a glimpse of the situation as a blond head ducked down between the beds, hiding.

Out in the living room, Daisy was starting to get angry. "Rosco!" she scolded. "You leave Luke alone! He's been sick, hasn't set a foot out of the house all day!"

That made Rosco stop and pay attention to her, but not for long. "Now, that's a lie, Daisy Duke, that's an absolute lie! I've got _eyewitnesses_," he emphasized, "who saw Bo and Luke Duke driving away from the scene of the crime! Now, out of my way, before I arrest you for obstructing justice!" He pushed past her again, and her protests fell on deaf ears as he strode down the hallway.

Luke had shed his robe and crawled back into bed, wrapping the warm blankets around him, when Rosco opened the door. The sheriff paused for a moment – Luke did look kinda pale and tired – but he'd made up his mind already.

"Alright, Luke!" he ordered. "Let's go, I'm taking you in!"

Luke regarded him for a moment through half-open eyelids, then rolled over on his other side, settling himself comfortably. "Go 'way, Rosco," he mumbled.

"You're not fooling me, Luke Duke! Get on up!" He pulled out his gun, a threat that had always worked before, though he never really had any intention of shooting the Dukes. "I'm serious now, I've got my gun out! I'll shoot!"

Luke considered for a moment, knowing it was an awful risk to call Rosco's bluff. Fortunately, in another moment, he didn't need to answer. Heavy footsteps swiftly strode down the hallway and stopped in the doorway. Luke would have laughed if he'd seen the look on Rosco's face when the sheriff turned around. Jesse Duke stood behind him, arms crossed, with an expression reminiscent of a she-bear seeing her cubs in danger. In turn, Rosco's expression was that of a man finding himself between that she-bear and her cubs - very, very nervous.

"ROSCO COLTRANE, WHAT IN THE GOOD LORD'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?.!" Jesse roared. Rosco hastily holstered the gun and started to take a step away from Luke, which was a step closer to Jesse, so he just froze, caught in the middle. "YOU GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY YOU'RE HOLDING A GUN TO MY BOY WHILE HE'S LYING SICK IN BED!"

Rosco started to stutter a response, and shrewdly beat a hasty retreat as Jesse stepped back from the doorframe and fiercely pointed for him to get out. Jesse closed the bedroom door, and Luke smiled, listening to his uncle berate Rosco all the way out the front door. Bo waited until the sound of Rosco's cruiser faded away before coming out of hiding. He grinned at Luke.

"Thanks, cuz."

"What happened now?" Luke asked.

"Aw, you know…" No further explanation was required.

"You need any help?"

Bo shook his head. "Nah, I'm all set. I better make tracks, though, before Rosco decides to come back."

"Be careful." Luke closed weary eyes. He didn't have the strength to swat a fly just now, but if Bo had said Yes, he'd have been on his feet in an instant, no matter what the problem.

Bo shook his head at his protective cousin, and patted his shoulder through the blankets before making for the door. "Feel better, Luke."

Bo quietly shut the door behind him. Luke dozed, finally getting warm, not knowing it was the last he'd see his cousin whole and healthy for a good long time.

-------------------------------------------------

Jesse and Daisy were waiting for Bo in the living room. An explanation was clearly in order. It didn't take long at all for Bo to tell his story, including why Rosco thought Luke was involved.

"They just let you go?" Daisy asked.

Bo shrugged. "Yeah, soon as I drove them to their car. They knew Rosco would be looking for me and the General, not them. They must have planned on something like it and hitchhiked into town, because their car was parked about five miles out on Blackburn Road off Highway Seven."

Jesse shook his head. These nephews of his attracted trouble like honey attracted bees - and it was his perpetual chore to make sure the stingers didn't sink too deep. "Alright, we'd better get thinkin' on how we're gonna get you boys out of this mess."

His youngest nephew grinned. "Oh, I already got a plan, Uncle Jesse. I just came back to get Daisy's help and give Cooter a call." When cousin and uncle both looked at him questioningly, Bo went on. "I followed them, after they let me go. I figured they'd hide out somewhere until dark at least, in case someone else recognized them at the bank - and I was right. They went right to their ma's old place and hid out in the barn."

Daisy smiled. "Good goin', Bo! If we go catch them with the money, Rosco will have to believe you!"

"Well, you kids be careful, especially if they've got guns. Did you say Cooter is gonna help ya?"

"Yes sir, I'll give him a call right now."

"Alright, then. I'm gonna stay here and keep an eye on Luke, but I'll stick close to the CB. Call me on the emergency channel if you need anything."

* * *


	3. That Word

**Author's Notes: Well, everyone, I realized at about midnight last night just how very very foolish I have been, because here I am posting Chapter 3 and I haven't yet thanked my industrious and incredible helpful beta-reading staff! (Yes, y'all are officially a staff now) - so, in alphabetical order, my extreme thanks to** Brenda, Fanficfan, and Flynne,** who have all provided great feedback and helped me work out the kinks in this beast.**

**Now, if you're keeping track, the formatting in this chapter changes - in Ch. 1 & 2, "Now" was in italics, and "Then" was in plain text, and now it switches, because you get the whole story of what's happened, and the rest of the story is "Now". So if you're interested in reading the sections in order as they happen chronologically, it goes: Ch. 1, Ch. 2, _Ch. 3,_ _Ch. 1, Ch. 2, _Ch. 3. Confused?.. :-P Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: That Word**

**Now**

Daisy walked with Luke back through the front entrance of the hospital, both worried and miserable, though it was difficult to tell which cousin was taking this hardest. Daisy had burst into fresh tears when Luke and Jesse first arrived in the emergency room, and Cooter had to explain all that happened while Jesse comforted his niece. She still wasn't convinced that it wasn't her fault, that she couldn't have done anything, but Cooter and her family all did their best to show her otherwise. She only had to look at the blood on her clothes to feel that awful guilt.

For his part, Luke blamed himself for not being there. He knew what Uncle Jesse would say - if he'd been there, it would only have been him in the hospital, not Bo - but that didn't help, because he'd prefer it that way. From the day six-month-old Bo, three-year-old Daisy, and four-year-old Luke had been brought to live together with Uncle Jesse and Aunt Martha, it had been Luke's self-determined duty to protect his younger cousins. Yesterday, he'd failed - and oh, how he'd failed! Luke could forgive himself some mistakes, some weaknesses, some accidents, but not this one.

These were the thoughts of the Duke cousins as they entered the hospital and stood in the elevator going to the sixth floor. Daisy held Luke's arm, not because he needed it but because she drew on the solid strength she found there. They'd hardly spoken all through the slow meal at the diner, and they didn't speak now, together but alone all at once. The elevator _ding!'_d at the sixth floor and the doors slid open. The Duke cousins stepped out and stared at the flurry of activity on the floor. The hall had been whisper-quiet and empty when they left two hours ago; now it was busy, noisy, and full.

No less than four Georgia state troopers stood around the door to Bo's room. Two stood guard at the shut door, while one was speaking with a cluster of microphone- and camera-equipped reporters, and the fourth was arguing heatedly with Jesse Duke and Cooter Davenport at the other end of the hall.

"Folks, folks, please…" the one trooper was saying to the reporters, who quieted as he raised his hands. "Beauregard Duke has in fact been charged in connection with the armed robbery at the First Hazzard Bank yesterday morning, and he is wanted…he is wanted for questioning," the man had to repeat himself over the rising tide of questions from the press, "regarding the Macon and Savannah robberies. That is all I can confirm at this time."

"Officer Canaan! Officer Canaan!" one reporter spoke up above the rest. "Why has it taken so long for charges to be filed in this case? This hardly speaks well for the district court, considering the recent Bakerton Scandal."

With an expression of practiced patience, the officer answered carefully. "There were some communication difficulties between the Hazzard and Capitol City offices, which have since been cleared up. Both the district court and the state police have the full cooperation of the departments involved. Please, next question."

"What about the rumors that Mr. Duke's accomplice in the robberies remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous?"

Standing frozen by the elevators, Daisy immediately looked up at Luke, who was rapidly trying to process what he was hearing.

"We are currently questioning members of the Duke family for further information. However, there is no reason for the public to fear at this time…"

At the far end of the hall, Jesse's argument with the fourth trooper came to an abrupt halt when the Duke patriarch looked up and saw Luke and Daisy standing there.

"LUKE, RUN!" Jesse shouted.

Luke took two uncertain steps backwards as all eyes turned to him. The troopers' expressions confirmed his uncle's command - clearly they were past 'questioning' and on to the 'arresting' stage of the proceedings. He turned and bolted for the stairwell.

Two of the troopers followed, shouting after him, but he had already cleared two flights of stairs before they fought their way past the crowd of reporters and Daisy. Moments later Luke cringed as gunshots ricocheted in the metal stairwell, but none came close to him. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he dodged past hospital security coming through the second-floor door. He hit the exit door with the force of a linebacker, bursting out into the afternoon sunlight.

Once outside, there was no catching up with Luke. He bolted across the parking lot and dodged through traffic to reach the parking garage on the other side of the road. The General was parked on the first floor not far from the exit, and he pulled out the keys as he ran, making a swift leap inside. With the pair of troopers gasping to catch up on foot, Luke gunned the engine, reversed, and was soon roaring off onto the main road.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before he heard sirens and saw flashing blue lights rapidly coming up behind him - the cavalry had been called. However, the afternoon traffic was light, and Luke only had to make it to the outskirts of the city. There, his skill and the General's superior horsepower and speed would make short work of losing the fuzz on the winding dirt roads, especially now, when his short nerves added an edge to his honed ability.

For once, events played out exactly as Luke planned. The General found the wooded dirt roads without mishap, and those troopers who weren't lost along the side-turns and shortcuts were sent skidding off the road as they attempted speeds and maneuvers beyond their ability. Luke soon found himself alone on a winding country lane, with not a soul ahead or behind. His mind raced at speeds the General could never match, trying to determine the best course of action, while his hands and feet drove on autopilot.

It was a good ten minutes before Luke realized he was heading back towards Hazzard. He'd already decided that was a bad idea - Rosco and Enos would be looking for him, and the rest of the county knew him and the General on sight. The Duke farm would certainly be watched, if nothing else. But he couldn't go back to Capitol City and the hospital either, not while the state troopers were swarming like an angry hornet's nest. At least it seemed like Uncle Jesse and Daisy were alright - they wouldn't be arrested, he was pretty sure - and Cooter was there with them.

Cooter! Luke debated the idea that occurred to him. Usually the Davenport farm would be the last place he'd run when he was in trouble, because it would be the first place anyone would look, but this time it seemed the lesser of many dangers. If he could reach Cooter's home undetected, it would be a relative haven until he could sort out his options and contact Uncle Jesse. Plus, if Rosco knew Cooter was with the Duke family at the hospital, he might not have bothered to put a watch on the place. That settled it - Cooter's it was.

With the decision made and the adrenaline rush fading, Luke was left with the rest of his thoughts in the silent car and the empty roads, and that wasn't a good thing. Usually, when he was upset, racing along the dusty roads in the General was a comfort, releasing pent-up frustration through speed and skill. Not now. Now his imagination took over, and though he hadn't been there, he could see it over and over, with every glance out the right window, just as Cooter had described.

* * *

**Then**

_The attempt to capture the Flanagan brothers at their dilapidated hideout had quickly turned into a shootout and a chase. Though the General was spared, one of Cooter's truck tires was shot, so Bo, Daisy, and Cooter all climbed into the orange Charger to follow the thieves. They took off, Bo at the wheel and hot on the brown sedan's tail. The Flanagans' car was deceptively fast for its mundane appearance, and it was soon apparent that the drivers were too evenly matched for skill. There would be no outpacing or forcing the Flanagans off the road. Instead, Daisy took over driving, while Bo scooted across the passenger side._

_"Pull it in closer!" Bo told her, pulling himself up to sit on the doorframe, wind whipping at his hair. The brown sedan slammed into the General, scratching the paint and denting the door, but Bo held firm. Daisy eased the orange car closer._

_"Be careful, Bo!" Cooter called from the back seat. _

_Bo just grinned back at him before climbing out onto the roof of the General, and all they saw was his fingers curled around the window frame. Then with one mighty leap, he jumped, and landed square on the sedan's roof. The General stayed neck and neck with the sedan, flying down the dirt road, and Daisy gave David Flanagan no room to shake her cousin off. The robbers had already used up all their bullets, but the man was a furious driver, raised on the same Hazzard roads as the Dukes. Bo clung tenaciously to the sedan's roof for several minutes as they raced along the dirt road, around each wind and curve. He held on tight, nearly slipping, as they reached the paved Highway 7, and both cars swung sharply north. Daisy was hard-pressed to match the speed of the sedan down the straightaway, despite the General's horsepower._

Come on, Bo! Get out of there, it's not worth your life!_ she thought, watching the needle on the speedometer go higher and higher. It was, though, if he didn't want to spend the next twenty years in prison. As the cars steadied, Bo reached down to open the passenger-side door. The driver took advantage of his opening and wildly flung the car into a swerve, slamming into both the General and the dirt embankment on the right. One-handed, Bo had no chance. He lost his grip, and Cooter and Daisy watched in horror as he was thrown from the back of the sedan, hitting the pavement hard and rolling several times before coming to a stop in the middle of the road. Daisy slammed on the brakes, leaving a black streak of rubber on the pavement, and ignored the escaping thieves. Cooter was close behind her as she ran for her unmoving cousin, and she choked back a sob when she kneeled beside him and found him alive._

_"Cooter! Call an ambulance!" she cried. The mechanic could see blood and bone and ragged clothing, and his heart pounded in his chest as he ran back to the CB in the General. He watched anxiously while he spoke into the mike, and in moments an ambulance was on the way. This side of Iron Mountain, the C.B. would never reach Hazzard or the Duke farm, so the call to Jesse would have to wait. Thirty feet away, Daisy was leaning over Bo's long, still form, saying something to him softly, too soft for Cooter to hear. Then the mechanic was at her side, kneeling next to Bo, not daring to touch him, not noticing the blood that soaked into the knees of his grease-stained coveralls. The wait seemed interminable, hours, an eternity, but was really only a matter of minutes. Then the ambulance came, and Daisy went with them. Cooter was left behind with the General, a pair of long black tire marks, a spreading red stain on the pavement, and very bad news to deliver._

* * *

**Now**

Luke was at the Davenport farmhouse before he even realized it, cruising up a side road that bordered the northern boundary of the property. He found an overgrown track he knew quite well, leading to a clearing surrounding by thick, tall bushes - here was where he'd hid his old car or Uncle Jesse's pickup when he came to visit after school instead of going home to do chores, or where the boys would gather to plan revenge on an ex-boyfriend of Daisy's who broke her heart, or a few dozen other clandestine activities that Mr. Davenport never saw because he minded his garage and not his farm.

Luke parked and climbed out of the General, tiredly gathering branches to obscure the General from prying eyes as an extra precaution. He was still feeling the residual ache of the flu, on top of the sleepless night spent in the hospital fraught with worry and fear. He hadn't managed to eat much at the diner, and his leaden limbs felt the shortage of energy. At least his mind was occupied for a while yet, while he carefully made his way through the trees to the edge of the field. From a distance he looked all around the fields and farmhouse for a sign of Rosco or Enos, but saw none, not even a Coltrane-attempt at camouflage while he dangled from a tree like a possum.

Luke found the farmhouse empty and undisturbed when he let himself in with the spare key. Cooter was rarely here except to sleep, and his brothers had opened up garages elsewhere, leaving Ma Davenport three homes to rotate between. Luke headed for the living room and sat down heavily on the couch. The lonely silence of the farmhouse echoed in his ears, and his eyes strayed over the furniture and floor.

His turmoil of thoughts was interrupted as his sight fell on the stairs leading up to the second floor, where Cooter's bedroom and a few guest rooms lay. _God, Bo_, Luke thought suddenly, and the tears he'd been fighting to hold back welled in his eyes. He refused to let them fall, instead leaning back against the cushions and closing his eyes against the pain.

_'Nah, I'm all set'_ Bo had said, still grinning from Rosco's rebuke, and then walked out. Warm tears trickled down Luke's face, but he didn't notice. He was thinking of Bo's hand on the hospital bed, his left hand on his unbroken arm, limp and cold. For just a few moments that afternoon, Bo had looked up at him beneath long eyelashes, with blue eyes that still trusted him and looked to him for protection. Then those blue eyes had sleepily closed again without a word. Luke held his hand, but there was nothing, no response, not a twitch, just cold. He'd heard the doctor say it to Uncle Jesse, out in the hall earlier that morning, thinking Luke was asleep…that word…_paralyzed._

--------------------------------------------

It was dark and growing cool outside when Luke opened his eyes. It was four or five hours since he'd dozed off, though at some point he'd woken long enough to stretch out more comfortably on the couch. Pushing aside one of Ma Davenport's knitted blankets - where had that come from? - Luke sat up, rubbing his eyes. He still felt the weight of fear and worry in his chest, but the short rest had calmed his nerves and cleared his head - not to mention, refreshed his appetite.

Sniffing the air, Luke realized the light was on in the kitchen, and someone was moving around quietly, humming a tune. The humming stopped as a figure came to the doorway and carefully looked in, and Cooter gave Luke a friendly smile.

"I was wonderin' when you'd wake up, buddyro'. Hungry?"

Luke stood and followed the mechanic into the kitchen, squinting against the bright light. He pulled up a chair at the table, watching while Cooter drained off a small pot of spaghetti and checked on a pan of sauce. Though the bachelor was no gourmet chef, he was a fair cook, one of the few among their friends who could manage not to burn water.

"How long have you been here?" Luke asked, stretching.

"Oh, two hours maybe." Cooter handed his friend a plate and silverware, and set his own on the table. "When we heard you got away, Uncle Jesse sent me to see if I could find you. Enos is watching the farm, and Rosco's been all over the roads looking for you. Jesse and Daisy were worried."

"I ought to call them."

Cooter shook his head. "Naw, those badges are listening in on the lines by now. I called 'em earlier - don't worry, they know you're safe." He carried over the pasta and sauce and went back to the 'fridge for the jug of milk.

"How's Bo?"

The question made Cooter pause. He shook his head, bending to look in the 'fridge. "Same as before. Last I heard, the docs want to take him into surgery again in the morning. There's guards on the door, but they aren't keeping us from seeing him."

Luke nodded, dourly reflecting on how pointless the guards were for a man who couldn't run away, but didn't comment.

Cooter joined him back at the table, pouring a glass of milk for them both. "I'd offer you a beer, but I didn't figure…" he trailed off.

Luke shrugged. Alcohol didn't mix well with fugitive status, and his recently ill body wouldn't take it well anyhow.

After a silent grace and the first few bites of the meal, Cooter spoke again. "So, what do you reckon on doing?"

Luke chewed thoughtfully and swallowed before answering. The answer was much clearer now than earlier. "The only thing I _can_ do."

The mechanic nodded agreement. "Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you want, since Rosco's not watching the place, and…" He stopped when he saw his friend's perplexed expression.

"Cooter, I'm not hiding," Luke clarified. It was Cooter's turn to look confused. "I'm going hunting."

The mechanic's jaw dropped - Luke wasn't talking about hunting boar. "Luke, I'm upset about Bo and everything too, but that's no reason…"

"I'm not gonna _hurt_ them, Cooter!" Luke cut him off with a shake of his head. "Well, not much, anyhow, considering what they did. There's no way to clear Bo's name without Joel and David Flanagan and the money they stole. And you're not gonna tell Uncle Jesse or Daisy - I don't want them to worry."

"You think they're not gonna worry if you disappear without a word?"

"What else _should_ I do? It's not like I can go back to the hospital, or even call in to talk to them. I can't even be there for Bo!"

Cooter could hear the angry edge in his voice, and he had nothing but sympathy for his friend. However, going after the Flanagan brothers alone was just too dangerous, and he said as much. Luke just shook his head, staring at his glass as he toyed with it.

"Look, Lucas, how 'bout you spend the night here and sleep on it, and if that's still your plan in the morning, I'll sneak you into the city so you can tell Daisy and Uncle Jesse," Cooter offered.

Luke sighed, thinking it over. Cooter was relieved when he reluctantly agreed. Jesse, at least, could talk some sense into him.

The boys finished eating in silence. Luke took care of the dishes and leftovers, mostly to have something to keep his hands busy. Before long, Cooter was yawning, having spent the same long night and day at the hospital as the Dukes. Sitting in the living room, Luke waved goodnight as Cooter climbed up the stairs to go to bed. The eldest Duke cousin knew his own way around the Davenport home, and would seek one of the guest rooms when he was tired again. For now, he stared vacantly across the room, deep in thought.

**Now, y'all oughta recognize _that_ expression - that means a plan's cookin' in that boy's head. I wonder what he's got in mind?**

* * *


	4. The Kindness of Strangers

**Author's Notes: Well, let's see - I've thanked my beta-readers and my reviewers, but y'know, I don't think I've taken the time to thank a lot of the other authors out there. See, I love to read as well as write, and there are some great and fun stories out there - some of which I'm still waiting and hoping for updates on (so if I'm on your alert list - this means you!). There's also other authors out there with a great deal of imagination and promise, that I'd love to see reach thier potential. So, thank you for writing!**

**As for notes actually related to this story - oh, yes, I almost forgot - I do realize that Cooter, L.B., and B.B. Davenport were presented in the show as cousins, but as Flynne so aptly said to me, "every timeDoH needed someone new, they dragged some mysterious cousin out of the woodwork" - and I decided I like them better as brothers. So that's how I wrote it.**

**I also havea bit of lifelong advice to impart, that my parents told me when I was a wee lass ofsix years old. Sometimes, in life, in books, in fanfiction, you'll come across a word you don't know: go look it up. That dictionary became my best friend, as I'll bet you can guess, and a lot of those words sneak thier way into my writing and my daily vocabulary and I don't even notice. Then, someday, maybe you too can challenge your friends to find a word in a GRE study guide that you don't know the meaning and usage. :-D**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Kindness of Strangers**

When Cooter woke to the dawn sunlight the next morning, he got up slowly, scratching and stretching. Before going into the bathroom, he looked into each of the two guest rooms - originally the bedrooms of the Davenport boys - and was somewhat surprised to see the blankets of neither bed disturbed. Then again, Luke had fallen asleep on the couch yesterday afternoon, so he'd probably crashed there last night too. Unconcerned, Cooter savored his nice hot shower, the heat easing tense muscles. Afterwards he quickly dried off and dressed in a reasonably clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Hey Luke, you up?" he called down the stairs ahead of him. "I don't got much for breakfast, but…we…can…"

The living room and kitchen were empty, and the silent farmhouse echoed Cooter's voice. He looked out the windows to the front porch and yard, but neither showed signs of life. Then he noticed two folded pieces of paper on the kitchen table. Cooter already had a good idea of what was in them when he snatched them up. The first was addressed to him, in Luke's scrawling handwriting:

'_Cooter - I'm sorry. I had to go. I borrowed a few things - I'll make sure they get back. Watch over Bo, Daisy, and Uncle Jesse for me. - Luke'._

The second was addressed to Jesse and Daisy, but Cooter read it anyway.

_'Uncle Jesse, Daisy - Don't worry about me. Pray for Bo instead. I'll be back soon. - Love, Luke'._

"Oh no," the mechanic said aloud. Notes in hand, Cooter ran for the white pickup parked outside, leaving the door wide open behind him.

**Yeah, I had a feeling Luke was planning something like this. There ain't a Duke born that wasn't stubborn as a mule, when his mind is set. Let's just hope he don't end up in the hospital next to Bo, or worse, in a green grassy field next to his momma and daddy.**

----------------------------------------------------

Uncle Jesse didn't take the news so well at first. "He's _what_?"

Cooter offered him the notes, which Jesse snatched up and read. Luke had said he didn't want Cooter to tell, but he didn't make him promise. "He's gone after the Flanagans," the mechanic repeated in a hushed voice. The troopers at the doorway to the hospital room were straining to listen in. Even Daisy, sitting by her unconscious cousin's side, could barely hear. She got up and joined her uncle and friend by the window.

"I don't think I heard you right, Cooter. I could swear you said Luke's gone after the Flanagan brothers," she said, just as quietly.

Cooter nodded affirmatively. "I tried to talk him out of it, but he was gone when I got up this morning. Took some of my camping gear with him."

Daisy looked up at Jesse worriedly. "Uncle Jesse, I don't like this. It ain't like Luke."

Jesse looked thoughtful. "I reckon it's more like Luke than you think. He ain't one to sit and hide, and he don't have many options. He figures the best thing he can do for us and Bo is catch the two that really done it, and come back with a clear name."

"But Uncle Jesse, they could be anywhere by now! He's breaking his probation for sure, and they could hurt him, even if the cops don't catch him first!"

"I didn't say I ain't worried about him. I'm jus' sayin' I understand it, is all."

"What about us? What are _we_ gonna do?"

"Well, we're gonna keep our ears on and our eyes peeled for any sign of him, and if he needs help, we're gonna help him. Until then, well, we're gonna wait while Bo goes in for surgery, and we're gonna be here when he wakes up." Jesse's eyes settled on his youngest nephew.

By all accounts, Bo was doing well, considering. The first few hours had been the worst – he had lost so much blood from his mangled leg, the doctors were hesitant to offer any hope. They'd immediately brought him to the operating room to set his broken femur in place and repair the damage done by the bone to blood vessels and muscle. Not long after, he was rushed back in when scans showed internal bleeding in his abdomen.

While the Duke family watched and prayed overnight, Bo stabilized, and his broken bones and bruised body developed no more complications. The doctors were concerned about the damage to his neck and back, as one of them had told Jesse, though they were amazed that he didn't have more serious head injuries from the high-speed impact with the pavement. They guessed, from the way his arm broke, that Bo had shielded his head from the worst of it. Now another night had passed, and they all played the waiting game; to wait for him to come out of it, to wait for him to heal enough to cut back the sedatives that kept him sleeping so soundly.

Before long, a nurse came to prep him for another surgery, this time to set permanent pins in his leg and strengthen the break against the strong muscles pulling at the bone. She shooed the Dukes and Cooter out of the room, and they waited in the hallway, eyeing the two guards with restrained dislike. The men were just doing their duty, but even Jesse couldn't help but resent their presence. When Bo was brought out on his bed and wheeled down the hall, one of the troopers followed, under orders to stand guard even at the operating room doors.

----------------------------------------------------

Anna smiled sweetly at the young man who sat at the counter of the roadside diner, pouring him a second cup of black coffee. He was handsome, with unruly dark brown hair and a country tan showing below rolled blue-plaid sleeves. The waitress noted, with hope, that he wore no wedding band or other lover's token. He looked worried and sad, with a distant expression in those tired blue eyes. Some instinct made her want to hold him tight and tell him everything would be just fine.

It took her two tries to get his attention, and he seemed surprised when he finally heard her, as though he'd forgotten he was sitting at the counter of the Sweetwater Café. "I said, can I get you anything else, sugah?"

He looked down at his empty dinner plate and pushed it forward. "Ah, no, thank you, ma'am."

She tried not to be offended when he didn't hardly seem to notice her, but she smiled again when she picked up his plate. Gathering some other dishes with it, she carried the load out back, where an older waitress stood talking to the line cook. Anna set her burden down and joined their idle talk. When the opening came up, she gestured out front towards the young man, and asked Sheila's opinion with raised eyebrows.

The older waitress leaned back a little to get a clearer look, and glanced from Anna to the haggard young man. Finally, she shook her head. "You are some piece of work, Anna May."

The pretty young woman laughed lightly. "What do you mean?"

"That boy there is nothing but trouble, I'll tell you right now. You keep your distance, honey, or you're liable to get burned."

"How do you know?"

"Oh, believe me, I know."

Anna looked out at him wistfully. "He looks so sad…"

Meanwhile, the line cook was taking a good look at the young man too, with a squint that was trying hard to remember something barely seen and quickly forgotten. He shrugged. Maybe he'd just seen him in the diner before.

After checking her hair and straightening her uniform, Anna returned to the front of the diner. It was late and very quiet, and the young man was one of a handful of customers scattered about the counter and booths. The Sweetwater Café was in an out-of-the-way corner of Sweetwater County, no longer a major trucker's stop since the state highway was built through Hatchapee. Now it was mostly locals who frequented the diner, though the young man was certainly an exception.

It was so quiet that Luke jumped at the sound of the bells on the door jangling someone's entrance. He carefully looked, and was relieved to see just another local man walking in. It had been a long time since he'd last seen the Sweetwater sheriff, but he was sure the man would remember him on sight – no officer of the law soon forgot an encounter with the Dukes.

Luke yawned despite the coffee, rubbing a hand over his face and hair. After leaving Cooter's in the middle of the night, he'd driven through Hazzard, first checking the Flanagans' old farm, then motel and hotel parking lots for the Flanagans' car. With no results on either, he drove on through Chickasaw, Choctaw, Hatchapee, and Sweetwater on the same night-spot search. He hoped they hadn't gone far, but he had no luck that night. Around dawn he'd given up and returned to one of Uncle Jesse's old hidden still sites to sleep for a few hours in the back of the General. Luke slept poorly, too alert for sounds that might be the sheriff or state troopers sneaking up on him, and eventually he gave up on that too.

By late morning, he was back on the road again, somewhat at a loss for what to do next. Flanagan wasn't very common a name, so he might search the yellow pages and hunt around to see if the brothers had a permanent home somewhere, but he doubted they did. Finally, he pulled over near the Choctaw County line and cut the engine, trying to think. Since he was getting tired of the lonely silence, Luke turned on the radio, listening to a few songs while he stared out the window. It was a news bulletin that caught his attention and turned his luck.

_"In breaking news, police in Sweetwater County have reported that the Sweetwater Regional Bank was robbed by a lone armed suspect earlier this morning. Investigating officials believe this to be the fourth of a string of armed robberies committed across the state in the last month, including the robbery in Hazzard day before yesterday where suspect Beauregard Duke was hospitalized following an escape attempt. A second suspect, Lucas Duke, remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous, although officials are not ruling out other individuals who may be involved. Luke Duke is described as…"_

Luke turned off the radio and started the car in one movement. Sweetwater. With the law looking for him, it was like trying to get honey from an angry beehive, but if the Flanagans had been there, that's where he'd start.

----------------------------------------------------

Now Luke sat in a little diner on the outskirts of town, looking at a clock on the wall that ticked 10:03 and 45 seconds…50 seconds…55 seconds…and on, while he wondered what to do for the night. He was saving what money he had for gas and food, and he figured signing his name on a motel ledger was as good as writing "ARREST ME" across the back of the General Lee – unless he went to one of the seedier motels, and frankly sleeping in the General was probably safer and cleaner. Then again, he didn't want to drive all the way back to Hazzard for a safe place to park, but he didn't know Sweetwater well enough to know where to hide either.

So he sat at the counter of the diner, with a full stomach at least, sipping coffee gratefully as the pretty red-headed waitress refilled his cup unasked. A part of Luke felt bad that he'd accidentally ignored her earlier, when she was obviously trying to gain his attentions. Since he'd scoured the county all afternoon and night with no sign of the thieving brothers, he was trying to guess at their next move, but he was getting past the point where he could think very clearly.

Luke jumped again when the bell jangled on the door, but it was just someone leaving. He stifled another yawn and turned back to his coffee, only to find the cup empty again. Here came Red, refilling it with a smile, and this time Luke gave her a friendly smile in return.

Pleased to get some response, Anna set the coffee pot down and leaned against the counter. "You in some kind of trouble, sugah?" she asked lightly.

Luke looked at her wide-eyed, but realized she meant nothing by it. "No, why?"

"You seem awful jumpy, that's all."

Luke shrugged casually. "Just a good ol' boy down on his luck, I suppose."

Anna was curious. He spoke with a northern Georgia accent, but he wasn't from Sweetwater, and why would he be here this time of night if he were from somewhere nearby? "We don't get many strangers in here. They usually stick close to town. I'm Anna May Goldthwaite, by the way."

He shook her offered hand. "I'm Luke…" He stopped short, mentally cursing himself for the slip.

"Luke…?"

"Just Luke."

Anna smiled. "Well, 'just Luke', does a good ol' boy down on his luck have a place to stay for the night?"

That caught Luke off-guard. The Duke men were known to move along fast with women, but not _that_ fast. "I…uh…Miss Goldthwaite, that's kind of you, but…"

Anna blushed and her hand flew to cover her mouth as she realized how the offer sounded. "No, no! I meant…I live with my brother, not far from here, and we've got a lot of spare rooms – my mama used to run it as a bed and breakfast – I just meant, if you don't have a place to stay, you're not gonna find much open this time of night, and if you want…" she trailed off, knowing her tumbling words probably didn't improve her indiscretion.

Luke smiled and shook his head. "Thank you, but I…I wouldn't want to be any trouble, it's alright."

The waitress smiled again. "Oh, it's no trouble at all! We'd be glad of the company - it gets kinda lonely, just the two of us, when that big ol' house used to be full of people coming and going all the time. In fact, my shift ended just a few minutes ago, and Chet will be by to pick me up soon. You can meet him, and I'm sure he won't mind."

Luke yawned a third - or tenth? - time. It was getting harder to refuse, and it would solve a few problems just now. Besides, she seemed nice enough – as long as her brother didn't mind, Luke reckoned it would be alright. He didn't need a Sweetwater boy angry with him for some imagined violation of his sister's honor. "Well, if you really don't mind, and it's okay with your brother, then I'd be much obliged, Miss Goldthwaite."

"Call me Anna, please. Oh, that looks like Chet there!"

A beat-up old pickup truck pulled up out front, headlights briefly flashing across the diner's large front windows. Anna was quickly walking towards the kitchen when Luke turned back around, shedding her apron and reaching for her purse. She said goodbye to a couple of unseen persons, and returned with a smile. Luke, in turn, pulled out a couple of bills from his pocket to pay for the meal and coffee, but the pretty little waitress stopped him.

"This one's on the house, hon," she said brightly. She seemed so delighted Luke had accepted her offer that his objection failed on his lips, and he pocketed the cash. She waved for him to follow her outside.

Chet, Anna's brother, was a burly man slightly taller than Luke, with the same red hair, cut short, and a bushy red moustache. He climbed out of the pickup truck as Anna approached, with an annoyed expression on his face, until he saw Luke. Then his annoyance melted into a friendly smile.

"Howdy, there!" Chet greeted the newcomer, holding out a hand. Luke shook it and greeted him in return. "Anna, who's this nice lookin' fella? I ain't gonna hafta beat him up, am I?" he asked his sister in a joking tone, though Luke wasn't entirely sure he was joking.

"Chet, this is Luke. He's from out of town, and he doesn't have any place to stay for the night - I was thinking he could room with us for a day or two."

Luke held up a cautionary hand. "Now, I don't want to impose. Just a night would be more than generous, as long as it's okay with you, Mr. Goldthwaite. I can always find a spot to sleep in my car."

Chet Goldthwaite smiled and shook his head. "No, we'd love to have you!" He clapped Luke on the shoulder. "Come on, go get your car, Luke, you can follow us back to the house - it's not far. And please, call me Chet."

"Well, I'm much obliged, Chet, thank you! I'll be right behind you." Ahh, Southern hospitality. With a brief nod to Anna, Luke turned and headed for the General Lee.

----------------------------------------------------

The Goldthwaite home was huge, every bit the southern country inn. It was also set well back from the road on the same little-used county lane the diner sat on, with hardly any traffic and fewer prying eyes. Luke felt safe enough, hidden from the local sheriff for the night. He had nothing to bring with him from the General, since he hadn't been back to the farm for any of his belongings, so he just climbed out and followed Anna and Chet inside.

Anna commented on his lack of personal effects, to which Luke just shrugged and said, "Like I said, down on my luck. All I've got is the shirt on my back and a sleeping bag in the trunk."

In the entranceway light, Chet studied his haggard features, and smiled and nodded as though he'd come to a decision. "Well, we can fix that! Anna, why don't you show our guest to a room upstairs - the one in the back, with the nice view - and get him a towel and one of my spare razors. I'm sure I've got some clothes that will fit you - you look about my size, though they might be a little loose on you."

Luke tried to refuse again, but the burly man would have none of it, and he sent Luke upstairs with his sister. Anna was all smiles, especially when he marveled at the room she brought him to. It was easily the size of his, Daisy's, and Jesse's bedrooms put together, with its own bathroom off to one side and a brilliant seated window looking out over the moonlit meadows behind the house. The bed look inviting enough to fall into now, but Anna dutifully provided him with a huge fluffy towel, a razor, shaving cream, and a comb. Then she left, closing the door behind her.

Luke was positively overwhelmed, that in the midst of this storm of troubles and worries, here was a sheltered port, at least for the night. He hadn't forgotten about Bo or the Flanagans by any means, but at least he didn't have to keep looking over his shoulder for blue lights and badges, as he had all day.

By the time he'd finished cleaning up, he felt better than he had in days. Chet had stopped in while he was in the shower, dropping off sweatpants to wear for the night and a clean set of clothes for the next day. The burly man also told him through the shower curtain that he and Anna were headed off to bed, and that if Luke needed anything, Chet's room was right at the top of the stairs. He distinctly didn't mention where Anna's bedroom was, and Luke didn't ask. Luke thanked him again, and the house was quiet by the time he pulled back the covers on the bed. He lay back with a contented sigh, pulling the covers up around him, and didn't wake until morning.

**Y'know, it's amazing, the kinds of friends you make with a friendly smile and an open heart. Though, I don't suppose it occurred to Luke to remember that old saying, 'Beware of Greeks bearing gifts' - I wonder if that applies to red-haired Irishmen too?**

* * *


	5. Damsel In Distress

**Author's Notes: Fair WARNING - I rated this story "T" for good solid reasons, where my others were probably borderline K, this one's maybe borderline M. There's a bit more swearing than usual, and some wicked violence (though not quite yet). So that's that. And, since I don't think I said it yet, I've got this story done already, and I'm posting one chapter each day, 'cause I'm too impatient to wait longer than that. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Damsel in Distress**

It was the sound of soft crying that stirred Luke from his sound sleep. He didn't know what time it was exactly, but it felt like mid-morning, and the daylight was bright and strong through the north-facing windows. Blinking, he sat up and looked around for the source of the sound. It wasn't too hard to find - the pretty little redheaded figure sitting on the floor against the door, arms wrapped around her knees, shaking and sniffling, was a fairly good clue.

Alarmed, Luke climbed out of bed and rushed over to her. "Anna? What's wrong? Oh, no…" he breathed when she looked up.

Her reddened eyes glistened with salty tears that flowed in twin tracks down her cheeks. A large blue-black bruise covered her eye, cheek, and jaw, and a thin line of blood trickled from the corner of her lip. She flinched away when he reached to touch her chin for a closer look, and sniffled again, wiping at her tears.

"Was this Chet?" Luke asked softly, one unseen hand curling into a fist.

"He called the police," Anna said in a cracked voice, sniffling. "He says you're that robber, and he called the police, for the reward money."

Wide-eyed, Luke tensed, looking around and listening for sounds in the house. "You tried to stop him?" Anna sniffed and nodded. "We've got to get out of here. How long ago?"

"Just…just a few minutes, maybe. There's no way out. That's why he put you in here. The windows don't open. He's in the hallway."

Luke quickly looked around the room, and saw that she was right - mostly. "All windows open. Come on," he took her arm and pulled her to her feet.

She sniffed again and took a shaky breath, but seemed to gather herself together. Luke dashed into the bathroom long enough to pull on his three-day-old clothes and boots. Grabbing the shirt Chet had provided, he went to the window and looked out, wrapping the garment around his left forearm. They were on the second floor, but it wasn't a far jump. Then he looked back with a sudden thought.

"He didn't mess with the General, did he? My car?"

Anna shook her head. "Chet doesn't know anything about cars. He's got your keys, though. I saw him sneak in while you were sleeping."

"That's alright. I learned how to hotwire a car when I was ten." He waved her over and wrapped a protective arm around her while he slammed his cloth-wrapped fist into the window. The glass shattered, and he kept at it until most of the jagged pieces were clear of the large frame. Beyond the bedroom door, Luke heard an angry shout from Chet, who had been waiting with a self-satisfied smirk, tallying his profits from his week's work.

"Anna! Open up!" he roared, pounding on the door. "Open the door, Anna!" She had set the bolts in place when she ran into Luke's room for safety.

The redhead looked up at Luke, terrified. He squeezed her shoulders for a moment, then let go. "I'll go first, and I'll catch you."

It was an even guess as to what Anna was more afraid of - the height, or her brother - but Luke's strong arm and gentle eyes were reassuring. She nodded fearfully. Taking a deep breath, he climbed up into the window frame, surveyed the ground below, and jumped. He landed squarely on the grass below, wincing at the shock, and then looked up to the window, absently pulling off the cloth covering his arm. Anna had climbed up into the frame, and looked back over her shoulder hesitantly.

"Come on, Anna! I've got ya!" Luke called, holding out his arms and bracing himself.

With one more look back, she jumped, and Luke caught her neatly. A moment later, there was a loud crash in the room above, and Chet appeared in the window, red-faced and furious. Setting her on her feet, Luke grabbed Anna's hand.

"Run!"

Together they dashed around the house to the General parked out front. Luke was in the driver's seat pulling wires while Anna was hesitating just outside the passenger door.

"Come on! Climb in through the window!" he called as he worked, and in another moment, the Charger's engine growled to life. Then Chet was barreling out the front door, baseball bat in hand. There was no more hesitating – Anna climbed inside. Luke reversed the General, whipping around in a tight curve before taking off in a spray of mud.

They were no more than two hundred feet down the driveway when the sound of sirens wailed up ahead, and blue and red flashing lights came into view.

"Hang on!" Luke said, and Anna buckled her seatbelt, wide-eyed.

The dozen-odd police cruisers scattered to either side as Luke sent the General thundering down the center of the road. Some were quick to turn around and follow him, and Chet's pickup truck appeared in the rearview mirror as well. Luke turned onto the main road and pushed the car to faster speeds, passing the little diner in an orange blur. It was a rare spectacle for the morning customers to see a line of police cruisers in hot pursuit of a fleeing suspect – except for those who spent any amount of time in Hazzard, that is.

Anna pressed herself against the corner of the seat, looking nervously out the back window at the cruisers, then at the dark-haired young man at the wheel with his eyes intent on the road. He drove more skillfully as any man she'd ever known, though she hadn't known very many – those who weren't afraid of her brother were friends with him, and unskilled at anything. The General hugged the curves and danced around the slick patches of spring mud with Luke's hands guiding the wheel.

Up ahead on the right, Luke spotted a side road with a white barricade across it and a sign reading "ROAD CLOSED". He cut across the open field and made straight for it, smashing through the barricade. He cringed as a piece of two-by-four flew up and hit the windshield, cracking a spiderweb into the passenger side that spread long limbs across to the left. He didn't slow down a lick, though, and the police cruisers – at least, those who hadn't slid off the road or been left well behind – followed him. Chet's pickup truck was long since left behind.

"What are you doing?" Anna cried. "The river's up ahead, there's no bridge, we'll be trapped!"

"Oh, no we won't!" Luke grinned, seeing the line of the river in the distance.

Anna gripped the door and the edge of the seat with white knuckles. This was insane. What was she doing? Better Chet than…no, not better Chet. She glanced across at Luke and his pleased, confident expression, then at the rapidly approaching river. No, if there was a good way to die, this was it – free of her brother, with a good man beside her, and no regrets. Still, she shut her eyes tightly as the General hit the sloped embankment at the edge of the river. For a few brief seconds, she felt weightless, and she risked opening her eyes when she heard Luke's energetic "YEEEEEE-AHHOOOOO!" Then Anna wished she hadn't opened her eyes, because the ground on the far bank was coming up awful fast. The General landed with a jarring **thump**, and then tore off again down the dirt road. Luke and Anna both looked back and saw the state police cruisers sliding to a halt on the far riverbank. There was no further pursuit.

As they disappeared into the woods, Anna breathed a deep sigh of relief, and realized she was shaking. "I take it you've done this before?" she asked.

"A few times," Luke grinned across at her. His grin faltered when his eyes fell on the bruises on her face, and he turned serious again. "Anna…I gotta be honest with you. Your brother was right…I am the man the police are after. But I didn't do anything, I swear!" He looked from the road to his passenger, gauging her reaction. To his surprise, she nodded.

"I know. Chet showed me your picture in the newspaper."

"And you still…?"

She shook her head. "I don't believe a word of it. You have an honest face," she said earnestly. "I've been around men like…like Chet all my life. Lazy drunken gambling cruel loud hateful sneering thieving swindling men." Anna spat the words like they were curses. "It didn't take much to see that you're not one of them."

Luke swallowed hard. He didn't know what to say. He had the feeling that, as relieved as he'd been to find a safe port last night, this poor girl had been a ship on stormy seas for far too long. The question was, what to do with her now? He couldn't leave her on her own, but it wasn't safe for her to come with him either – not until the Flanagans were behind bars.

"I just hope he's not too mad at me…"

Luke looked at her sharply. "What? You're not thinking of going back there, are you?"

There were tears in the redhead's eyes, and she tried to sniff them back. "It's my home."

He could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Anna…"

"Chet doesn't mean it. I just make him mad sometimes, when I do something wrong."

"Anna, no matter what you might do wrong, you don't deserve that from _anyone_."

She just shook her head, looking out the window. After a minute, she spoke again, changing the subject. "The other man in the newspaper, Beauregard – is he your brother?"

Luke sighed as they came to an intersection. He turned right, headed north towards Hatchapee – Cooter's brother B.B. had a garage there, and he needed to replace this windshield before he couldn't see through it anymore. "Bo is my cousin, but…he's a brother to me."

"Was he hurt, like the paper said?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, he was hurt pretty bad. He's in the hospital right now. My uncle Jesse and cousin Daisy are there with him."

"What happened?"

He told the story from the beginning, piecing together all the bits that Daisy and Cooter had told him, right up until his arrival at the diner the night before. Anna could hear the worry in his voice – no wonder he'd looked so sad. He probably didn't want to be anyplace else but that hospital just now.

"…and then I got dinner at this little café, and told this pretty little waitress I was just a good ol' boy down on my luck…and here we are," Luke finished, with a gesture to the General and the open road. "Whoa, that's strange," he added suddenly, with an odd shake of his head.

"What?"

"I dunno, I just got dizzy all of a sudden."

Alarmed, Anna looked him over, and found the problem. "Luke, you're bleeding!"

He was surprised to look down and see two long gashes on his left forearm, where apparently the glass from the window had cut through the cloth he'd used to protect his arm. They weren't very deep, but had been bleeding, open and unnoticed, for some time now. He pulled over onto the side of the road and took a closer look while Anna searched around for something to wrap it with. In the floor of the backseat she found a box of clean mechanic's cloths, and she pulled out a couple.

"Here, let me see."

With a practiced eye, she held his wrist and inspected the cuts. Luke flinched as she carefully picked out two small shards of glass that he hadn't seen. Then she lay one folded cloth across the gashes, and tore the other cloths into even strips to tie the bandage into place. A little blood soaked through, but the wrapped cuts quickly clotted.

"I take it you've done this before?" Luke commented, echoing her earlier comment.

"A few times." Anna smiled. "Chet was in more than his share of bar fights," she explained. "Are you okay to drive?"

"Oh, yeah," Luke reassured her, inspecting the makeshift bandage and the red stains on his shirt and jeans. "I've had worse." He shifted the car back into gear and pulled back onto the road. "We're not that far from B.B.'s anyhow."

While he drove, Anna asked him about his family and things in Hazzard. Even though Sweetwater was just a hop, skip, and a jump away, it sounded like Hazzard was so much more exciting, especially if high-speed pursuits and jumping orange racecars over rivers were routine for him. Luke talked about Jesse, Daisy, Bo, and Cooter, but also Boss Hogg, Rosco, Enos, and Flash. Anna had heard of Jesse Duke before – his honest reputation was spread broadly across the northern counties, and it turned out that her father had been one of his best moonshine customers way, way back in the day. If she had any reservations about Luke Duke and his story whatsoever, they were wiped away by the reverence and love with which he spoke of his uncle and cousins.

It was almost too soon when he pulled the General into the shadows behind a garage on the outskirts of town in Hatchapee. She loved listening to his stories, so different from her own life. However, it was pushing on towards noon, and with all that had happened, Luke was itching to get back to his hunt for the Flanagans and their hideout. He still had the problem of what to do with Anna, though, and he thought on this as they cautiously walked in through the back of the garage.

"Psst! B.B.!" he quietly called when he saw the mechanic was alone.

B.B. looked up from the hood of a sedan, surprised, and quickly joined Luke and Anna at the back of the garage. "Luke Duke! What are you…oh, sweetheart! What happened? Luke?" he frowned. Cooter's oldest brother was a bit taller and heavier built than Luke's close friend, and had the same good nature and mechanical skill that seemed to run in the Davenport family.

"Oh, B.B. Davenport, meet Anna May," Luke introduced hastily. "Anna is, uhm…" he wasn't quite sure what to say.

"Anna is lucky Luke Duke was in the right place at the right time," she finished for him with a smile.

B.B. smiled in return, accepting the explanation, and he looked to his little brother's buddy. "What's going on, man? I saw the papers – and I heard about Bo – are y'all alright?"

Luke sighed. "Last I know, Bo's hanging on, but he's hurt pretty bad. Look, I'll tell ya all about it later, but right now, I've gotta ask you for a favor, B.B."

"Anything, name it."

"The windshield on the General got all smashed up this morning – can you replace it, and I'll pay you back as soon as I can?"

B.B. scratched his hair. "Luke, I don't mind doin' it at all, but I don't have a windshield in stock that would fit the General. Hang on a minute, lemme make a few calls. By the way, what the heck did you do to yourself?" he pointed to the bloodstains on Luke's clothes.

"Cut my arm, that's all. We'll wait back here."

B.B. went into the office of the garage, and Luke could indistinctly hear him talking on the phone. After a couple minutes, the eldest Davenport came back out with a smile.

"I've got a guy who'll have it out here in an hour," he announced, pleased with himself. "In the meantime, I want to hear about what's happening! Man, what a day for long lost friends!"

Luke smiled at the news, but something sounded out of place about that last bit. "What do you mean, long lost friends, B.B.? We just saw you at Christmas!"

The mechanic pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "You'll never guess who came in this morning with a busted radiator."

"Who?"

"Guess!"

"B.B.!"

With a grin, B.B. gave in. "Joel and David Flanagan. Remember them? And man, are they…loaded…something wrong?"

Luke stared at Cooter's brother, mouth open, trying to salvage the train wreck his line of thought had just become. "They're…_here_?"

**Now, I'll bet y'all weren't expecting that any more than Luke was. And no wonder – the Dukes _never_ have it _that_ easy.**


	6. Hot On The Trail

**Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing! I am indeed working on another story as I speak - with any luck I'll have it done by the time I finish posting this one. :-D Happy V-Day, if that's your thing. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Hot On The Trail**

"They're…_here_?"

"Yeah – well, they're off in town somewheres, why?"

Luke gave him the short version of the week's events. "They're the ones behind all these robberies. They framed me and Bo, and nearly killed him, with that car."

B.B.'s eyes grew wide. "Whoa."

Luke looked around. "Where's their car?"

"Over that way," B.B. pointed towards the front.

"I need you to open it up for me. If the money's in there, we'll call the police and get them here and now." There was venom in Luke's voice.

"Yeah…yeah, come on," the mechanic agreed.

Anna and Luke followed him to the brown sedan at the front of the shop, and he was glad the garage doors were closed against the cool spring breeze. The search would have looked quite suspicious to casual observers walking by outside. Ten minutes later, though, the trio came up empty. There was nothing in the trunk, under or inside the seats, or any other space big enough to carry the amount of cash that had been stolen. Luke slammed the trunk shut, frustrated. Without evidence, it was Luke's word against theirs, and the witnesses were already pointing to Luke and Bo.

"Any ideas?" he asked in general, sighing. Anna rubbed his shoulder consolingly.

"Yeah, actually," B.B. brightened. Luke looked up attentively. "Come on, I'll show ya," the mechanic gestured towards his office.

----------------------------------------------------

"B.B., you're a genius," Luke declared with a smile, clapping him on the back and surveying their work.

There wasn't much to see, and that was the point. B.B. had removed the General's and the Flanagans' C.B. units and brought them into his office for a few modifications. The eldest Davenport had a tinkering interest in modern electronics, so after some searching, he found a couple of the wire-tap bugs Cooter had gotten ahold of for him, plus some other bits and bobs. With a little work, he fixed the bugs into the Flanagans' unit and wired them into the output signal, so Luke's C.B. would pick up the broadcast. Add a voice-activated recorder in Luke's C.B., and a borrowed high-power police scanner, and Luke was set up to not only hear the thieving brothers' plans and whereabouts and record their own words as evidence, but also to better track the police on his tail. B.B. smiled proudly.

"Anything for a friend. You just make sure this scanner makes it back here, y'hear? Jerry will kill me if I lose it."

"You got it."

Just then, the door near the office opened. Luke scooted back into the shadows, tense. If it was the Flanagans returning early, B.B. would have trouble explaining the C.B. that he hadn't replaced yet.

"Hello? B.B.?" a familiar voice called.

Luke looked out in disbelief, stepping out from hiding. "Cooter? What are you doin' here?"

Cooter pointed over his shoulder towards his truck. "Well, I'm delivering a new windshield for a certain '69 Dodge Charger that disappeared from my farm yesterday morning," he explained in a reproving tone.

Luke grinned. Of course - who else nearby would keep one in stock? "Sorry about that, Cooter," he apologized, abashed. Then, with a sudden thought, he looked around. "Anna!" he called to the young woman who'd also slipped into the shadows. She stepped forward shyly, and Luke put an arm around her shoulders in an embrace more protective and brotherly than Chet had even given. She was growing self-conscious about the bruise on her face – she'd never gone out in public before until her bruises were healed, and the unaccustomed concern from Luke and his friend was unsettling.

"Cooter, this is Anna. Anna, Cooter Davenport."

The two shook hands – Luke had told her about him earlier. Cooter was disturbed by the dark purple mark, but he had the sense to see her discomfort, so he didn't make her even more uncomfortable by asking.

"Anna, I was thinking…" Luke began, "…maybe you'd like to stay in Hazzard for a couple of days. Daisy's got a friend in town who runs a boarding house, I'm sure she can set something up for you. I just…" he sighed. He didn't want to force her to do anything – then he'd be no better than Chet. "What I'm doing might get dangerous, and I just don't want to see you go home yet. Cooter could give you a ride, and give Daisy a call at the hospital…" Luke trailed off, seeing refusal in her eyes. Cooter nodded encouragingly, guessing at enough of the situation.

Anna wasn't so sure, but she hated to disappoint him. "I'll think about it, Luke."

He smiled for a moment before B.B. spoke up from the small window in the office. "Y'all better hide, looks like the Flanagans are coming up the street. I'll get this C.B. back in, here's yours, Luke…"

"What?.! The Flanagans…!" Cooter began, confused, but with a spark of anger.

"Cooter, come on, I'll explain outside…" Luke insisted, and Cooter, Luke, and Anna all swiftly slipped out the back.

It was hardly ten minutes later, just after Luke finished replacing the C.B. unit in the General, that they heard the door open inside the garage. A moment later, B.B. and the Flanagan brothers were within range of the bugged car, and their voices came over loud and clear. Cooter and Anna leaned on either door of the General to listen. While he worked, Luke had explained the situation to Cooter, but he was surprised at the restraint it took to keep himself from going in there and…well, beating the pulp out of them. Luke saw Cooter gripping the doorframe tightly, while his own hands curled into fists at the sound of David Flanagan's voice.

"_Hey there, B.B.! Got that radiator done yet?_"

"_It's all set, Dave! Man, it was great to see you guys – you gonna be in town long?"_

_"Naw, we're heading out, I'm afraid. Places to go, y'know?"_ That was Joel's voice. _"Hey, was that Cooter's truck parked out front?"_

"_Yeah, he just dropped it off, something wrong with the rig. He borrowed my old one instead."_

"_Oh, okay."_ David sounded slightly relieved. Was he wondering how much Cooter had told his older brother? _"Too bad we missed him. Well, we're gonna hit the road. How much does it come to?"_

_"That'll be one-fifty, on the nose."_

There was a sound of bills being counted out, then: _"There ya go. Thanks, B.B.! We'll catch ya next time we come through!"_

The car doors opened and slammed shut, and the engine started. B.B. called a goodbye, and the car was off and out of the garage. The C.B. feed didn't stop there, though.

"_Think he knows?"_ Joel asked his brother.

"_No, I doubt it. If he was gonna do something, he'd have done it already. Besides, there's no evidence on us, and the cops are all after Luke Duke."_

_"Morons. Worked out good though, huh?"_

_"Better than I hoped, with that stupid plan of yours. Putting Bo in the hospital was a nice bonus, too. Stupid cocky sonofabitch, that'll teach him."_

_"Tell me about it – ugh, him and that damned car. I just can't believe that fall didn't kill him."_

_"Yeah, well, I tried. Don't worry about it. Even if he lives, no one's gonna believe anything he says – the papers are convicting him for us."_

_"What about Daisy and Cooter?"_

_"I said don't worry about it!"_ David snarled angrily.

_"Okay okay! Hey, where we hitting tomorrow, anyhow?"_

_"Cedar City. The cops will be so busy in Sweetwater, they won't expect anything three counties over."_

The banter went on, but Luke stopped listening. He was trying very, very hard to control his anger, and his nails bit bright red crescents into his palms. He might have taken off after the thieving brothers right then and there, were it not for the windshield and the danger to his two friends leaning in the windows. Luke wasn't a man given to fits of rage, and he wasn't as hot-tempered as Bo, but he didn't know what he might have done if Joel and David had been within arm's reach speaking about his cousin like that.

"Luke?" That was Anna, on his left.

"Come on, buddy, let's get this windshield done so you can get out of here." That was Cooter, on his right.

Breathing a carefully measured deep breath, Luke unclenched his fists and wiped his hands on his jeans, leaving more red stains. Then he reached for the doorframe, and Anna stepped back so he could climb out. She was more than a little troubled – when Luke said Bo was a brother to him, it hardly meant anything to her, because she had so little connection with her own brother. But she'd seen him turn pale and tremble with anger at the two men's cruel words, and if he'd been protective with her – a complete stranger – she could only begin to guess at his devotion to his family. Somehow, her decision had suddenly just become easier.

"Luke?" she asked again. With another heavy breath, he looked at her. "I'll go with Cooter, back to Hazzard. Do you want me to bring any messages to your family?"

Luke shook his head, looking a bit calmer and more controlled with a third deep breath. "Just tell them I love them," he said quietly.

Cooter waited until his friend seemed collected, and then he went to help B.B. fetch the new windshield from his truck. He was angry himself – after all, he had been there and _seen_ Bo thrown from the thieves' car – but watching Luke's reaction was terrible. Cooter wanted to be right out there with him, but he couldn't. He'd already lost too much time at the garage with the two days he'd spent with the Dukes at the hospital, and his mortgage payment was due in another week. Even this trip to Hatchapee was a loss, but he couldn't refuse when B.B. told him Luke needed help.

While B.B. worked at removing the old windshield, Luke stood back against the garage building, rubbing the bridge of his nose between two fingers. Anna made herself comfortable on the ground nearby, and Cooter walked over to join Luke, hands in his back pockets.

"Uncle Jesse called the shop this morning," the younger Davenport said, and Luke looked up. "The operation on Bo's leg yesterday went good, and they're gonna start taking him off some of the medications, see if he wakes up a little. Jesse said, he loves you, and whatever you do, ah…" Cooter smiled and imitated Jesse's gruff voice, "…you're not too old to turn over his knee, so be careful, 'cause he'll tan yer hide if you're not."

Luke smiled a little and shook his head at the threat. "Do you mind taking Anna into town? I guess I should have asked first."

"S'alright with me. In fact, I thought I'd stop at the hospital on the way back, see how things are goin'. We can talk to Daisy about Sally Jo's place right then."

"Thanks, Cooter." Luke didn't just refer to the one favor, but every little bit that his friend had been doing for him and the family in the last few days. Cooter understood.

It took some time to set the new windshield into place, all the while hearing the steady stream of idle conversation and road noise through the Flanagans' C.B. While mechanics and friends waited for the seal to harden and dry, B.B. fetched lunch from a joint down the road, and they ate in the back of the garage. More than one pair of eyes kept track of how much Luke ate, knowing or guessing that a few missed meals were in his recent past and near future. But when the meal was done, it was time to part.

B.B. checked the windshield seal and declared it good. Luke turned to Anna.

"Will you be alright?"

She nodded, looking down at the ground awkwardly. Then she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "Take care of yourself."

Luke held her, and then stepped back. "You too."

Cooter walked up and held out a hand. Luke grasped his arm in a firm grip. "Luke, I already had to make one bad call to Uncle Jesse this week. Don't make me make another one."

Luke nodded. "Thanks again, Cooter." He shook B.B.'s hand and thanked him as well. Then he climbed into the General and turned the ignition with a spare key from Cooter's set, pausing to listen to the purr of the engine. With a final wave of his bandaged arm out the window, he shifted into gear, and was back on the hunt.

**Y'know, I just don't know who to worry about more. We've got Bo in the hospital, Luke on the run and chasing after a couple of turncoat bandits, poor little Anna running from her tyrant of a brother, and Jesse, Daisy, and Cooter left picking up the pieces! I tell ya, friends, one of these days I'm gonna nail those boys' shoes to the ground, and _then_ see if they can get into trouble!**

* * *


	7. Patients and Patience

**Author's Notes: Heehee. Not much to say, really. Thanks for reviewing!**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Patients and Patience**

The sixth floor of Tricounty General was relatively quiet again when Cooter and Anna stepped off the elevator around mid-afternoon. The nurses went about on their regular rounds, doctors walked back and forth down the halls, and the guard at the door to Bo's room had been reduced to one stoic state trooper. He looked over the pair as they approached, but soon resumed his bored, resigned expression.

Cooter knocked gently on the closed door. After a moment, it opened just a crack, and Jesse peered out darkly. The Duke patriarch relaxed when he saw the mechanic, stepping back and opening the door wider to admit them. Cooter and Anna quickly stepped through, sensing the tension, and Jesse shut the door behind them.

Inside, Cooter nodded a greeting to Daisy and took an appraising look at Bo. It was four days now since his young friend had looked back at him with a grin from his perch on the door of the General, and four days since Cooter had made that awful C.B. call to Uncle Jesse. And in four days, Bo hadn't so much as twitched a whisker, his features still and calm in a drugged slumber, but for a few moments that afternoon when Luke was there. However, this morning Jesse had said the doctors were taking him off the heavy sedatives, and although Cooter wasn't exactly expecting his friend to jump up and ask when they were going fishing, he was hoping for something, at least.

"How's he doin'?" the mechanic asked Daisy.

She gave him a small smile and reached over to her cousin, brushing a gentle hand over Bo's blond locks. To Cooter's surprise, he stirred a little, breathing a deeper sigh and turning his head a bit towards Daisy's hand, and slept on. "He's a little better," Daisy said. "Doc said, maybe later on today."

Cooter smiled. Best news he'd heard all day – or at least, it matched hearing from Luke alive and well.

Behind him, Jesse spoke. "Well, Cooter, you gonna introduce us to your friend, or are you trying to make her think Ellen Davenport never taught her boys any manners?"

"Oh!" Cooter turned around. He'd nearly forgotten Anna, who blushed, feeling awkward and out of place. "Anna May Goldthwaite, this here's Jesse Duke, Luke's uncle, and Daisy and…and Bo, Luke's cousins. Jesse, Daisy, this here's Anna May." He paused while she traded shy greetings with each Duke. "Luke asked me to bring her into town, and we reckoned we'd talk with Daisy about getting her a room with Sally Jo."

Both uncle and niece were instantly wide-eyed and attentive, looking keenly at Anna.

"You've heard from Luke?" Daisy asked.

"Is he alright?" Jesse echoed.

"What's been going on?" Daisy followed up.

Anna took on a deer-in-the-headlights expression at the sudden questions, not sure where to start or how to say it. Fortunately, Jesse recognized her distress and intervened, smiling kindly.

"Hold on now, Daisy. Miss Goldthwaite looks like she's had a long day, and if she's run into Luke, then it's likely to be some story. Cooter, would you see if you can get a couple more chairs from the hall, so we can all sit down? I'd say we should talk outside, but if we all leave we'd likely never get back in," he added with an angry glance in the direction of the door and the guard. Cooter nodded and went out the door. While they waited, Jesse turned back to the young redhead. "Goldthwaite…are you Russell Goldthwaite's little girl?"

Anna smiled sadly. "Yes sir, Mr. Duke."

"I was real sorry when he passed on - your father was a good man. How's your mama been?"

"She passed on a few years back, sir. It's just me and my brother, now."

"Is that so? I never heard! My, the years go by so fast these days. Seems like just yesterday I saw Russell's baby girl playing tea with her dolls out behind the inn, and now she's all grown up!" Jesse shook his head, with a glance towards his own blond little boy. It also seemed like just yesterday that Bo was playing Little League and learning to ride a bike, and later roaming the dirt roads as fearless and reckless on two wheels as he was on four. It seemed a cruel thing that such an energetic young man would…

"Luke told me about Bo, and how he was hurt, Mr. Duke," Anna interrupted Jesse's thoughts, following the direction of his gaze. "I'm sorry. I hope he'll be alright."

Jesse took a deep breath and sighed. "I've been praying just that for three days now. But, the Lord never gives us more than we can handle. We just have to have faith."

In another moment, Cooter was returning with a pair of chairs from the waiting room. Daisy and Anna pulled over the other two chairs in the hospital room, and the four settled themselves by the window in the corner.

"Now, just start from the top, dear," Jesse encouraged, restraining his own impatience.

Feeling more comfortable and less cornered, Anna began hesitantly, explaining how she'd first seen Luke in the café where she worked the night before. She gave them every detail from there, including his own description of his activities since leaving Cooter's. She left out the part about her confrontation with her brother, saying only that she'd tried to stop him, then went to warn Luke. Cooter took up the story from B.B.'s shop, explaining the electronic setup his brother had provided his friend, and Luke's departure. He limited the details on the Flanagans' conversation - no need to make things worse than they were.

When all was said and done, Jesse sighed. As he'd said yesterday, he understood Luke, but he still worried. His eldest nephew had a good head on his shoulders, but Jesse just hoped that his sound reason would keep him safe.

"Thank you," he said to Anna, with an earnest expression that made her think he guessed at the cause of her bruise.

"Uncle Jesse?"

Two Dukes and a Davenport whirled around at the soft sound, half out of their chairs. Startled, Anna stood too, looking towards the still figure on the hospital bed. Bo was looking back at them with drowsy blue eyes. Jesse was the first at his side, quickly followed by the others.

"Right here, son," Jesse reassured him, smoothing over his nephew's curls.

"What happened?" Bo asked. He spoke softly, weak still.

Daisy answered. "You fell, sweetheart. Don't you remember?"

Bo shook his head slightly, closing his eyes. For a moment, Jesse thought he'd fallen asleep, but then his eyelids flickered open. He looked up at Cooter and Anna, standing at the end of the bed.

"Hey, Cooter," Bo rasped.

Cooter gave him a smile. "Hey, Bo."

The wounded Duke tiredly looked around for the one face missing from the room. He didn't know who the pretty redhead was, but he wasn't really up for making guesses.

"Where's Luke?"

Bo didn't see the three-way exchange of looks, but Jesse answered, patting his uninjured shoulder gently. "He'll be back soon, Bo." Jesse hoped he wasn't lying. His nephew nodded a little, eyes sliding closed again.

"Can we get you anything, hon?" Daisy asked.

Bo swallowed, with the slightest shake of his head. " 'm sorry, Dais'…'m so tired…" he mumbled. In another moment, Jesse was sure he was asleep, softly breathing in a slow, gentle rhythm. The Duke patriarch looked up at his niece.

"We should let the doctors know," he said, but Daisy could hear the request in the statement.

"I'll go find one, Uncle Jesse." He looked like he needed a moment alone - if Daisy wasn't mistaken, there were tears in his eyes. "Cooter, Anna, come on outside. I'll give a call to Sally-Jo."

Cooter brought a chair back over to the bed for Jesse, who thanked him quietly as he sat down. Then the mechanic followed the two young women out the door, shutting it gently behind them.

---------------------------------------------------

Luke's hands had taken it upon themselves to tap restlessly against the steering wheel as he drove. The Flanagans' words kept replaying through his mind. '_Yeah, well, I tried_'. Way back when, the racetrack rivalry between the Dukes and Flanagans had been no secret to anyone in the town, and there had been some fierce races - including the last one, where Bo had emerged the victor. He'd taken the prize, and they'd lost their farm and left home, too proud to accept the money Bo openly offered them. But Luke had never suspected either of them truly hated Bo or himself - until now. Now it was too obvious, thinking back - the forced, sneering smiles, the comments almost too sarcastic to be friendly, the overly rough 'play' on the county roads. And more, it sounded like the brothers had picked up a few new tricks in their time away, hardened and sharpened to a violent edge. Luke wondered if this series of robberies were the worst crimes they'd committed, or if more terrible sins blackened their souls. Certainly they weren't the least bit remorseful about Bo.

Luke kept to the least-traveled of the dirt roads on the outskirts of the counties. He turned every blind curve and searched every dark copse of trees with tension, ready to run from flashing lights and wailing sirens. If he was caught, even without the armed robbery charge, he'd still end up in prison for breaking probation, and that would help no one. The roads were quiet, though, as was the C.B. link to the thieves' car. He'd turned the volume down some, but kept one ear tuned to the engine noise that rumbled through the wiretap. By the time Luke had gotten back on the road, the Flanagans had settled into silence as they drove. Now, he was headed in the direction of Cedar City, the last lead he'd heard on their next destination.

Luke's thoughts strayed, feeling the chilly bite in the wind as it whipped past. Spring planting was coming up soon, once February turned into March and dried the muddy earth. This week, the boys were supposed to work on the tractor, cleaning and tuning it into shape for the season – so much for that. Three nanny goats were expecting newborns in the next month, and the sow was fat with a litter of piglets. He wondered briefly how the farm was doing, under the care of the Kellers up the road - Jesse had called them from the hospital. Luke and Bo could always repay the favor by working extra chores on the Keller farm. _Bo…_

Luke swallowed. It was hard to think of his cousin and not think of his injuries. _What are you going to do now, cousin?_ Luke thought. _What are _we_ going to do?_ Luke supposed he could handle it, doing the heavy work alone now. Planting season was busy, but Daisy and Jesse both could help with that, though the harvest would be difficult. Summer was lighter, and maybe he could bring in enough money with the General in races to hire an extra hand for the fall. He'd have to enter the higher-stakes, regional races, get permits from Boss to leave the county on occasion, but Luke could do it. He could always do it - anything the family needed, his back and his hands could make happen, without complaint. The only thing Luke didn't think he could do was face his baby cousin every day for the rest of his life, and look down to see the top of his head instead of looking up to meet his eye.

He'd been listening to the droning sound for so long, it took Luke a moment to realize that the Flanagans' engine had stopped. Over the C.B. feed, he heard the car doors open and shut, and then more distantly as they walked away from the car, David's voice:

_"Hurry up, Chet's been waiting for us."_

**Now, how do you figure that hooligan got himself involved?**

--------------------------------------------------

Jesse and his niece were back at playing the waiting game in the little hospital room as the sun cast long, lingering rays across Capitol City. Daisy was restless, as worried about Luke as she was about Bo. She made frequent trips pacing down the hall to the water bubbler, the waiting room where the TV was tuned to the news, and any other excuse she could find to be active. She'd made the arrangements for Anna May, and even went back to the farm with Cooter to pick up a few things and Dixie.

After the Sweetwater robbery, the tension on the hospital floor towards Bo and the Duke family had considerably increased. First reporters mobbed the physicians and tried getting into the room for exclusive interviews, raising the ire of the hospital staff. A call to Luke's old friend, an editor at a major paper, solved much of that, as the friend made calls all around the city and pulled some weight within various news agencies to curb the enthusiastic reporters. Later, though, when Daisy and Jesse walked Cooter out to his truck, the guard at Bo's door tried to refuse them entrance back into the room. Orders, he said. However, the tall, young, muscular, armed state trooper was no match for the grizzled, aged, but formidable Jesse Duke, and it was a fairly short argument. Since then, Jesse was reluctant to leave the room at all, and would only do so very quickly and if Daisy stayed, for fear of being barred again.

The sun had long since set when Daisy returned from one of her fidgety walks, and she quietly closed the door, hearing Uncle Jesse's soft snores from his chair. By the light of a lamp on a corner table, she headed for her chair, making a sweeping check on her uncle and cousin as she walked. Uncle Jesse was asleep, chin to his chest, newspaper slack in one hand. Bo was little different than the last few days, though he seemed genuinely asleep now, murmuring here and there in some unknown dream soothingly hushed. Daisy settled into her chair quietly, not wanting to disturb either of them, and closed her eyes. She hoped tomorrow's dawn would bring some news of Luke and a change in the winds of the Dukes' fortunes.

---------------------------------------------------

About that time, Luke too was settling down to sleep, thinking of his family. The General Lee was hidden in a cluster of bushes and trees off a lonely road outside of Cedar City, and Luke was curled up on the front seat, Cooter's borrowed sleeping bag wrapped around his shoulders. A cool mist drifted in through the windows and settled among the trees, as the temperature dropped rapidly with the deepening night.

He'd whiled away the afternoon hours in another vain search for the Flanagans. No further clues or activity had come through the C.B. feed, and Luke found himself at a loss. Wherever they were hiding, he couldn't find them. Whatever they were doing, they weren't using their car. Somehow Chet Goldthwaite was involved, but he didn't know why or to what end. It wasn't until dusk that an idea struck him, and it was dark before Luke found a payphone booth to make the call.

Using his best impression of a little old lady, he called the Cedar City police, and described how he'd overheard men discussing their plans for a robbery in the morning. He gave descriptions of all three, the brown sedan, and Chet's beat-up old truck. Then he'd hightailed it out of there and ducked off onto the back roads – sure enough, on B.B.'s police scanner, he heard units being dispatched to check out the source of the call. Luke hoped the police took the call seriously – it would make things considerably easier if the Flanagans were caught in the act, without Luke needing to show his face. He would be waiting and listening nearby, as close to the city as he could manage, to hear how his idea panned out – and he'd be ready to give chase if it failed. Until then, he was spending another rather cold night in hiding – hopefully his last – waiting for the morning and the promise the new day would carry.

**Y'know, I sure hope this all works out – for one, I can't stand to see them Flanagans running around on the loose, especially after what they did and said about ol' Bo, and for two, I also can't hardly stand to see Luke all alone and sleeping in the car in the middle of the woods!

* * *

**


	8. Curses, Foiled Again

**Author's Notes: Heeheehee - this was one of my more favorite chapters to write. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Curses, Foiled Again**

Daisy woke to the bright sunshine streaming through the window, sunlight that made the white walls and tile of the hospital room positively glow. She sat up with care, stretching the familiar crick in her neck and back from sleeping slumped in the uncomfortable chair. She rubbed sleepy eyes and looked across at Jesse, confirming what the sound of soft snores had already told her - he was still asleep. Bo, on the other hand, was wide-awake and gazing at his cousin with clear, bright eyes, and despite his bruises he couldn't help but grin at her stunned surprise.

"Hey there, darlin'," he drawled casually. He wiggled the fingers sticking out from the end of the cast and sling on his right arm. "So much for being careful, huh?"

"Bo! Oh, honey!" She stood and leaned over, kissing his cheek and ruffling his hair.

Bo smiled again, alert and energetic, his expression a strange contrast to the scabbed red scrape on his cheek. "Well good! Looks like there's nothing wrong with _your_ memory."

Daisy beamed, absolutely delighted, while Jesse stirred in his seat.

"Did you say somethin', Daisy?" he asked, rubbing tired eyes. Then he saw both his young'n's looking back at him, smiling.

"Mornin', Uncle Jesse," Bo greeted him brightly.

Jesse did a fair impression of a fish, shocked at his nephew's liveliness so absent these last few days. Finally, he found his voice. "Mornin'? Mornin'?" he rumbled, standing and leaning over to wrap a strong arm behind Bo's shoulders in a hug. "Beauregard Duke, we've been worried sick about you for nigh on five days now, and all you can say is 'Mornin'?.!"

_Owowowow_, Bo thought as his broken ribs and right shoulder were pulled into the hug, but he just grinned. "Sorry, Uncle Jesse. Head injury and all, y'know."

Jesse let him go, shaking his head and smiling behind damp eyes. This was a vast improvement on the dazed, exhausted boy who'd briefly woken yesterday, and several of Jesse's fears were stripped away in one heartbeat. Speaking of yesterday…

"Daisy, would you…"

"Already on it, Uncle Jesse," she said, halfway to the door.

Doctor Meadows had been quite annoyed that he hadn't immediately been called in yesterday, and had in no uncertain terms told Jesse that if Bo was to receive any treatment, the doctor had to have timely access to him. In just a few short minutes, Daisy returned with the white-coated man. The doctor greeted his patient, then turned to Jesse and Daisy.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave, while I speak with young Mr. Duke and run a few tests."

Their objections were only halfway out their mouths when Bo intervened. "I'll be alright, Uncle Jesse."

"I'll make sure you're allowed back in," Meadows reassured them as well.

Jesse frowned, but agreed, even more reluctant to leave now that Bo was awake. Daisy followed him out, promising Bo they'd be just outside the door. The guard, in the mean time, had also heard the update, and was on the phone with his superior at the nurse's station.

Twenty minutes later, the doctor found the Dukes in the waiting room. Both stood and waited expectantly while the doctor finished jotting a few notes in Bo's file on his clipboard. Then Meadows looked up.

"Well, Mr. Duke, he's doing quite well, considering the condition he was in when he was brought in. He has some strained muscles in his neck and back, but his sensitivity and reflexes in his hands and feet are good, and there doesn't appear to be any lingering cranial or spinal damage. He's got a long way to go to heal, I'm afraid, but overall, I'm rather pleased."

"Oh, that's great!" Daisy said, leaning against her uncle as he hugged an arm across her shoulders. Jesse was relieved beyond words. When the doctor had told him the range of possibilities for Bo's injuries that first morning, he'd been devastated, but the Duke patriarch didn't have the heart to tell Daisy or Luke until he knew for sure. Now he was glad to have saved them both a great deal of worry and fear.

"Officer Malone is speaking with him now, but you're welcome to go back in, for a little bit. He'll need his rest, and frankly, Mr. Duke, you and your niece could use some rest yourselves," the doctor advised.

Jesse thanked him and started towards Bo's room, very much wanting to know what the state trooper was saying to his nephew. The guard was just coming out of the room as Jesse and Daisy came up to the door, and with a nod, he resumed his post. Jesse frowned and went on inside, where Bo was leaning back against the raised head of the bed, looking rather dumbfounded and a bit tired. The doctor's simple tests of strength and reflex were by no means exhausting, but his bruised body was far from healed. Every breath taxed his cracked ribs, and his abdomen ached from the surgery that had halted the internal bleeding.

"What's wrong, Bo?" Jesse returned to his chair. "What did he say?"

"He just arrested me!"

"He what?" Daisy asked.

"He just read me my rights, and said I was under arrest!" Bo shook his head. It wasn't exactly a surprise, but he was incredulous nonetheless. Bo sighed, rubbing his left hand across his face and hair, wincing when he touched a bruise or raw spot - he seemed to have a lot of them. Then he looked up at Jesse and Daisy, who were settled on either side of him.

"Don't you worry, Bo," Daisy reassured him, "With any luck, Luke will have this sorted out soon."

"Where is Luke, anyhow?"

**Well, shoot if that ain't the question of the day - though I'm glad ol' Bo is well enough to ask it. As it turns out, at that very moment, the missing Duke in question was engaged in a very familiar activity – fleeing from the police.**

Luke spent the majority of the night hunched and trying not to shiver in the three-season sleeping bag, thoroughly convinced that right now wasn't one of those three seasons. He dozed fitfully towards dawn, but as the woods faded from black to grey and the sun burned away the chill mist in the air, the warm morning sent him sleeping deep enough that cannon fire might not have disturbed him. Curled up on the front seat of the sun-heated General, Luke didn't wake at the sound of the Flanagans and their red-haired comrade setting out for the morning's bank heist, nor did he hear Joel's grumbling complaint that Cedar City was too far off to bother with, why not just hit nearby Capitol City and skip out of Georgia now. In fact, it was a good two hours before any sound from the real world reached Luke at all.

_"This is Crazy C callin' Lost Sheep, where ya at, buddy? Come back," Cooter called through the C.B. Bo and Luke ignored the call, knowing Uncle Jesse had asked Cooter to find them, and was just looking to send them up to Mrs. Thornton's to fix a fence they'd eradicated the day before. Grinning, Bo reached into the General for his tackle box, and switched off the volume on the C.B. at the same time._

_They settled on the grass in the shade of a willow tree, lazily fishing in the creek on the hot summer afternoon. They had never actually caught a fish in this particular stream, but it was a popular spot for the girls of Hazzard to picnic – mostly because it was a popular spot for the boys of Hazzard to fish. Barefoot and relaxed against the gnarled roots of the tree, Luke smiled as Bo got up and left his pole behind to go fish for a different kind of catch. The new arrivals were too young for Luke, giggling little things still in high school, so he leaned back and closed his eyes, not a care in the world._

_Some time later, a rough hand shook his shoulder. "Wake up, son," Uncle Jesse said._

_"Mmmm…" was Luke's sleepy response. He was comfortable, and he'd done his chores already._

_"Come on, son, time to get up."_

Deputy-Sheriff Daniel Roy of Choctaw County was new to the area and not long on the job, and lucky for Luke, because it bought him a few minutes' time. The deputy didn't know the slumbering young man in the orange car from Adam in an Oldsmobile, and the dispatcher was too busy with something going on in Cedar City to respond immediately when he called in the plates. Instead of waiting, the well-meaning deputy approached the car on foot, trying to remember the directions to the shelter in the city should the young man be homeless. It took some shaking before he stirred, muttering sleepily and blinking lethargically as he looked up at the deputy.

"Are you in some kind of trouble, son?" Roy asked kindly. Why else would the young man stay out here on such a cold night, with no young woman in his arms or adequate means to keep warm?

_I am now,_ Luke thought as reality swiftly cleared the dream from his mind. "I, uh…"

A tinny voice sounded from the deputy's cruiser. "Oh, hang on just a minute, I need to answer that," Roy said.

Luke watched him walk over and lean in through the passenger-side window to pick up the radio mike. A moment later the deputy was glancing back towards Luke in a not-so-subtle manner, but Luke wasn't taking his chances waiting around. He shoved off the sleeping bag the moment the deputy's back was turned, pulled himself into the driver's seat, and started the engine. Deputy-Sheriff Roy shouted after him as he took off. If the man didn't know the Dukes or the General Lee before, he would now.

**Y'know, I kinda feel bad for that nice ol' deputy. Then again, it's no picnic for Luke either.**

-------------------------------------------

It was noon by the time Jesse and Daisy finished filling Bo in on the week's events. Jesse worried about all the news all at once being too overwhelming for his nephew, but Bo seemed to keep up just fine, attentive and thoughtful. He yawned as they finished, but refused Jesse's suggestion that he get some sleep.

"I been sleepin' all week, Uncle Jesse! 'Sides, I'm starving. There anything decent to eat around here?"

Daisy laughed. Oh yes, Bo would be just fine. "I'll go see what I can find." With Bo smiling brightly after her, she headed out the door.

In the hospital ward, the nurses' station was strangely empty, though Daisy soon found out why. The handful of white-uniformed women were in the waiting room – one standing just in the entrance to keep an ear out for patient alarms – and the television volume was turned up. As Daisy approached, she heard two voices – one was the newscaster on TV, and the other was one of the nurses.

"Ugh!" the woman scoffed as Daisy walked up behind the bunch, trying to peer over their shoulders. "That's our tax money at work."

Right about then, the nurse at the doorway noticed Daisy standing next to her, and the others turned and saw her as well. The lot of them looked at her with disapproving frowns as they filed out and returned to work, leaving Daisy alone in the waiting room with the TV. She hardly noticed their reproach, however, as she stared at the television screen.

_"As you can see from footage taken earlier today by our own News 8 helicopter, the state police had an extremely difficult time apprehending the suspect in a chase that lasted more than two hours and began in eastern Choctaw, moving through Cedar City, south on Highway 18, and into Hazzard County."_

The newscaster's voice was accompanied by bird's eye scenes of a bright orange car painted with the Confederate flag on the roof, flying along a wooded road with a dozen screaming police cars on its tail. The image switched to a similar scene on the streets of Cedar City, the General Lee skillfully weaving in and out of traffic and reaching the turn for the highway.

_"The driver of the vehicle, Luke Duke, is wanted in connection with a series of armed robberies throughout the state, and police now believe that as many as five men may have been involved in the crimes so far. Acting on an anonymous tip, police nearly succeeded in capturing three of these men in Cedar City this morning just outside a branch of the Southeastern Regional Bank. They believe Duke was lying in wait to divert authorities and enable his accomplices to escape. I am told we are now taking you _live_ to the scene where the chase has ended, and the police are arresting Duke as we speak."_

As Daisy watched, the screen switched again to another video feed from the news chopper. The image bobbed up and down some as the helicopter circled Cutter Crossing, a three-way intersection thickly fenced in by trees where Luke had apparently blown a tire and skid sideways off the road. Police cruisers with flashing lights were all over the road, and any number of state troopers held handguns aimed in the direction of the General Lee. Daisy watched in shock as Luke climbed out of the General, hands raised in surrender. She could see the bloodstained white bandage on his arm where Anna said he'd been cut. Several officers moved forward and pulled him forward, slapping handcuffs on his wrists in front of him. Threat restrained, the other officers holstered their firearms, and Luke was led with sullen, complacent footsteps towards a waiting squad car.

At the edge of the camera shot, Daisy caught a movement yet unnoticed by the police, and she smiled. In another moment, the newscaster was commenting on the arrival of a tow truck on the scene. A moment after that, every state trooper on the scene and TV viewer except Daisy was shocked to see the handcuffed fugitive shove away from his captors and 'attack' the tow truck driver as Cooter opened the driver-side door. Luke jumped in and pulled the door shut while the newscaster dramatized the harrowing turn of events, a capture-turned-hostage situation. The tow truck tore off before most of the police officers could even bring firearms to bear, though a couple took poorly aimed shots at the retreating truck.

_"For those of you just now tuning in, we have just seen, live, an innocent man taken hostage by a violent criminal. I'm sorry, folks, but we have to go to commercial – I just can't believe this. I pray that the police can catch this fugitive before any harm comes to that mechanic."_

**Y'all keepin' up with this? 'Cause I tell ya, I think I'm startin' to lose track.**

* * *


	9. At The Worst Possible Time

**Author's Notes: Glad y'all liked Ch. 8 - it was fun to write. _This_ pain in the butt chapter, I rewrote four times before I got a scene down that I liked, four completely different ways - it's like looking at the outtakes and alternate endings of a movie. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: At The Worst Possible Time**

Leaving the television and the waiting room behind, Daisy stopped at the nurse's station to relay Bo's request for food, and then quickly went back to his room. The guard was watching her curiously. Thinking he might listen in, she put on the most somber expression she could manage as she walked through the door, shutting it behind her. Bo, who had been nodding off, blinked and sat up straighter against the raised head of the bed, while Jesse looked up and frowned at her sober expression.

"Uncle Jesse, Bo, you're not gonna believe what I just saw on the news," she said, shaking her head sadly.

"What happened?" Bo asked worriedly.

Daisy sighed. "The state police found Luke this morning, and chased him all across Choctaw and into Hazzard. They stopped him, but he got away, and…and I'm afraid he's taken some poor tow truck driver hostage."

Bo and Jesse stared at her, open-mouthed, not sure if she was joking or serious until she nodded towards the door and the guard just outside. Then Bo grinned, realizing what and who she meant.

"Oh, that's terrible!" he said, trying not to snicker as Daisy covered her mouth and stifled a laugh.

Jesse stared at the both of them, slightly longer in catching on. Then he smiled himself. "What the heck's gotten into that boy?.!" he asked loudly for the guard's benefit, containing his own mirth. "Taking hostages? If the police don't catch 'em, he'll regret it when I do!"

The joke was cut short by a knock at the door. Smiles were wiped away, and Daisy answered it. A gray-haired severe-looking man in a suit-jacket with a badge stood there, with the guard at his shoulder. Both walked in silently past Daisy. The older man looked at the guard, clearly annoyed.

"Is _this_ your idea of no visitors?" he asked in an angrily calm tone.

"Sir, they…" the trooper began, just as Jesse rose from his seat saying, "Hang on a minute, now…"

The gray-haired man waved a silencing hand. "I don't care. Out – all of you."

A chorus of protests followed.

"Sir! …"

"Hey mister, just who do you think…"

"We've got every right…"

"I didn't do a danged thing…"

"…can't treat him like this! …"

"…honest enough to me! …"

"…doesn't deserve…"

"ENOUGH!"

Doctor Meadows stood in the doorway of the room, holding a clipboard and looking fit to be tied.

"You, out! You, out! You, out! You, out!" he ordered, pointing to the guard, the detective, Daisy, and Jesse in turn. "I don't want to hear any arguments, pleas, or police orders. This is _my_ ward and this is _my_ patient and if this room isn't empty of everyone but him in three minutes I'll have the lot of you arrested! And Detective Perkins, I already told you _not today_! He needs rest, not an interrogation! Out!"

The detective scowled at every person who met his gaze and strode from the room, followed by the guard. The doctor looked pointedly at Daisy and Jesse, who got the hint – he wasn't doing them any favors. Jesse sighed and turned to his nephew.

"We'll be back, Bo," he said, leaning over to give him another bone-aching hug.

"It's okay, Uncle Jesse," Bo found himself reassuring his uncle.

"Now, don't you forget, if'n that detective comes back, you don't have to say a thing without a lawyer present," Jesse reminded him.

Bo smiled. "I know. 'And should I choose to give up that right'…" he quoted, trailing off.

Then Daisy said goodbye, with a gentle hug and a kiss on his forehead. "Take care, sugah."

The doctor waited until they were out the door, then gave Bo a similar meaningful look. The blond took the point and reached his good hand over, carefully lowering the back of the bed down, and leaned back against the pillows with a sigh. The doctor shut the lights off as he closed his eyes, and the door shut with a soft click.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Luke breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the cruisers disappeared from sight behind them, and he headed into the thick forest where the helicopter would have no advantage.

"Cooter, I don't know what I'd do without you!" he laughed as he drove.

"Don't mention it, man! I'm sorry I was running late, I had a hard time sneaking out of town without Rosco noticing." Carefully, Cooter leveled his bolt cutters and snipped the cuffs from Luke's wrists.

"Yeah, I'll tell ya, I was worried there for a minute – I didn't think they'd let you through."

"You kidding? One of 'em called for me not two minutes ago, to tow the General to impound. They were just surprised I showed up so fast."

Luke just chuckled, keeping a nervous watch on his mirrors as sirens wailed behind him. Cooter hit his arm and pointed towards a right turn. Luke took it, winding deeper into the warren of trails and roads that criss-crossed the forest. Many were logging roads that were old even when Uncle Jesse was a boy, certainly older than the thick tall trees that covered the land now. Even a Hazzard-raised boy could get lost back here, which was exactly why Luke had asked Cooter to meet him out here on the C.B. when he was having trouble shaking the relentless state police. The mechanic looked out the back window, appraising the fading sound of the sirens, and smiled that Davenport smile.

"Here, take this next left up here. Let's keep in here for another few minutes or so, then we'll go back an' fix up the General."

"Don't you think they're gonna have someone guarding 'em?" Luke asked, surprised. The original plan had just been to get Luke out away from his pursuers and sacrifice the General, like giving up a rook to pull the king out of check – temporarily of course.

Cooter shook his head. "Naw, the lot of them came after us like dogs on a rabbit. I'll bet not one of them stayed behind to guard the henhouse."

Sure enough, once they had thoroughly lost their pursuers in the forest, Luke headed back for the road and they found the General Lee sitting lonely right where he'd left it. The pair wasted no time changing out the blown tire. They also checked the other three tires for pressure and wear, and quickly opened up the hood to check on the radiator, which was in need of water. While Cooter filled it from a carton he kept on the tow truck, Luke leaned in the driver-side window to check the gauges.

"Dang! Cooter, hang on! The General ain't gonna get very far without some gas. I wasn't watching the gauge."

Cooter smiled, shaking his head, and shut the hood. "Guess it's a good thing I've got two five-gallon jugs o' premium on the truck, huh?"

Luke grinned. "Thought of everything, didn't you?"

Cooter replaced the water carton and hauled down the gas containers from behind the truck cab. "Everything for the General. You, on the other hand – well, I was gonna bring ya some sandwiches from Mel's, but I forgot."

"Aw, you had to mention food!"

"Sorry, buddyro'. Like I said, I forgot. Hey! Speaking of forgettin' – I keep forgettin' to tell ya…"

Luke looked up expectantly as he poured the gas into the General's near-empty tank.

"When me an' Anna was at the hospital yesterday…Bo woke up, at least for a couple of minutes."

"How was he?" Luke was almost afraid to ask.

Cooter shrugged apologetically. "He was pretty out of it, didn't say more than a few words and then conked right out again. He was lookin' for you, though," the mechanic added, realizing a moment later that it probably only hurt Luke worse to hear it, and he could see his friend trying to hide it.

"Did Uncle Jesse call you today?"

Cooter shook his head. "Nope, nothing. I was in the shop all morning. Tried calling you on the C.B., though, you didn't answer."

"Ah, yeah, that was right about when this all started," Luke replied, not wanting to try to explain that he'd turned off both C.B. and police scanner in his sleep, as he'd discovered during the chase. He finished emptying the second gas canister, then handed them back to Cooter and shut the gas cap. Distantly he heard the faint wail of a siren. "Here, you'd better get on back to the woods so you can act like I let you go – they catch you with me they'll arrest you too."

"Alrighty, Lucas. Where you reckon on going next?"

"Well, I figured I'd lay low for a little while at least, maybe wait 'til nightfall to get back on the road. I'll figure something out."

"Listen, you stay safe. I'll see ya around."

"Thanks again, Cooter!"

-----------------------------------------------------

It wasn't enough for Jesse and Daisy to leave the room, either, it turned out. The imperious doctor sent them out of the hospital entirely.

"Listen, I can't make you folks do anything beyond these halls," Meadows told them earnestly, "but I strongly recommend that you go home, get a good meal, and sleep in your own beds for a night. He'll still be here in the morning, and I'm leaving instructions with Security not to let you back in until then, so I advise you to make good use of it. Good day, Mr. Duke, Ms. Duke."

Jesse was still grumbling epithets as Daisy walked with him, hand on his arm, all the way outside to where Dixie was parked. He climbed in reluctantly, and Daisy could see he was more worried than angry - worried about everything and anything that might happen in his absence.

"Come on, Uncle Jesse, the doctor's right. Bo will be just fine without us, and we could both use a little bit of home," Daisy observed, pulling the white jeep onto the roads.

Jesse continued to frown, but he stopped grumbling.

"Hey, I've got an idea. How 'bout we invite Cooter over for dinner?" Daisy suggested. "I'm sure he'll have news on Luke." She picked up the mike and called for Cooter over the C.B., though she wasn't sure if he'd be available, a little under an hour after his 'hostage situation'.

_"Crazy C comin' atcha, Daisy, free and clear of ol' Smokey. What's on yer mind, darlin'?"_

"Well, the doctors kicked me an' Uncle Jesse out of the hospital, so we're headed home, an' we thought you might want to come over for dinner later on."

_"That's mighty kind of you, Daisy, but I gotta get back to the garage. _Someone_ in this county's gotta do some work. Hey, how's Bo doin'?"_ Cooter asked, knowing Luke was listening somewhere out there.

"He's doin' great, Cooter. Listen, give us a call when you get a chance. We aren't headed back until morning."

_"Will do. Keep it 'tween the ditches, y'all. I'm gone."_

When they reached the Duke farm a while later, Daisy stopped long enough by Enos's patrol car to invite him inside. Surprisingly, he refused, looking both aloof and embarrassed - he still thought Bo and Luke were actually guilty. So Jesse and Daisy went on inside, and Enos continued his surveillance, though all he'd seen in five days was the comings and goings of the Keller boy tending to the animals.

Mrs. Keller had been through the farmhouse at least once - the dishes were washed, the beds made, the living room tidy. The plate from Luke's toast on Monday sat on the drying rack among the other dishes, and Daisy remembered briefly how surprised she'd been to see him on his feet at the hospital that first night, pale and fevered but obstinate. She frowned as she started dinner, cutting up chicken to fry, wondering where Luke was now.

The house was quiet without the boys - too quiet - and while Daisy worked, she could hear her uncle's footsteps walk down the hall around the corner and stop to look through the door to Bo and Luke's bedroom. A moment later Daisy jumped at the shrill sound of the telephone cutting through the silence. Before she'd wiped her hands off to pick it up, Uncle Jesse was back in the kitchen answering it anxiously.

"Hello?.!"

Daisy saw him relax some as the voice on the other end spoke, and she guessed it wasn't the hospital.

_"Jesse, this is Thomas Sutton. I'm sorry to bother you, I know it isn't a good time right now, but…"_ Sutton hesitated with a strained tone in his voice, _"…one of my heifers is in a bad way, and I'm not sure…Jesse, I need your help. Please."_

Jesse was silent for a moment, closing his eyes and trying to untangle his own worries and frustrations from the added problem that had just presented itself. This _was_ a bad time for this, but then again, Thomas Sutton was an expert on husbandry himself, and he never called for Jesse without a real problem.

"Alright, Thomas. I'll be out there within the hour," he promised.

_"Thank you, Jesse. I owe you."_

Daisy raised questioning eyebrows as Jesse hung up the phone and sighed.

"Thomas Sutton needs help with a heifer," he explained, reaching for his wool jacket and the red cap he'd hardly just hung on the hook by the door.

"Well, hang on Uncle Jesse, I'm coming too," Daisy said, quickly covering the chicken and putting it in the fridge. She washed her hands and grabbed her own denim jacket, and followed her uncle out the door. As they drove off in Dixie, Enos radioed in to Rosco.

"This is Enos callin' Sheriff Rosco. Y'know how I just told you Jesse and Daisy were home? Well, they just left again. Do you want me to follow them, Sheriff?"

_"No, you dipstick, I don't want you to follow them! We're looking for Luke Duke, not Jesse and Daisy. You just sit there at the Duke farm and tell us if he shows up – he's got to come home some time. Besides,"_ Rosco added, listening to something Boss Hogg was telling him in the background, _"May-belle says they're just going to help some cow. Now, I don't want to hear a word from you until you see Luke, y'hear!"_

"Yes sir, over and out!" Enos settled back in his seat, resigned to several more hours of boredom at least.

* * *


	10. Lost Sheep

**Author's Notes: Well dang if there aren't some slick, smart reviewers out there - and that's all I'm gonna say. :-D Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Lost Sheep**

When they reached the Sutton farm, Thomas walked out onto the porch to meet them, pulling on a red-plaid wool jacket that Jesse didn't notice wasn't his usual woolly sheepskin cold-weather coat. Sutton greeted them both, though he was surprised to see Daisy, and he thanked Jesse warmly for coming.

"She's at the far end of my back pasture, we'll have to drive out there. My truck's already loaded up with supplies," Sutton said, and Daisy and Jesse climbed in.

As the drove over the cattle guards and into Sutton's broad pastures, occasionally passing stray cows along the way, the rancher expressed his sympathy for their situation, and asked about Bo. Jesse's answers were polite but short, and the small talk soon fell into a sort of awkward silence. It was only mid-afternoon, and in a way, Daisy was glad of the distraction, because it would be a long night ahead until they were allowed to go back to the hospital.

"It's not too far," Thomas spoke up, eyeing the land ahead. They were almost in the very far back corner of his lands, following the fenceline.

"Just what did you say is going wrong with this heifer?" Jesse asked, trying to get an idea of what lay ahead.

"Did I say heifer?" Sutton asked, his generally stoic features cracking slightly in a hint of a smile. "I meant sheep. A lost sheep, to be more specific."

They rolled over the crest of a knoll and Daisy gasped as a silhouetted figure came into view, sitting on the grass against a fencepost with long legs stretched out, arms wrapped tight across his chest in a fleecy sheepskin coat, and head back against the fencepost in a doze. He looked up as the truck approached.

Jesse saw him too. "Thomas, I don't know what to say," he said softly as they pulled to a stop.

Sutton smiled. "Don't worry about it, Jesse. I'm glad to help any way I can."

Luke stood to greet his uncle and cousin, who quickly left the truck and hugged him in turn.

"Boy, it's good to see you two," he said, holding Daisy tightly. "How's Bo doing? How come you had to leave the hospital? I heard you on the C.B. with Cooter."

"Bo's doin' just fine," Jesse assured him.

"Yeah, you shoulda seen him this morning - wide-awake, talkin' and smilin' like all get out - you wouldn't hardly know he was hurt but for the casts and bandages," Daisy added with a smile.

Luke looked from cousin to uncle with disbelief. "Wouldn't hardly know he was hurt? But, what about…isn't he…?"

"Isn't he what?" Daisy asked.

"I heard the doctor tell you Tuesday morning, Uncle Jesse, that he'd hurt his neck and his back, and he'd be…well, paralyzed." There, he'd said it. Luke looked up carefully at Jesse, whose expression shifted from surprise to compassion.

"You mean all this time, you thought…? Oh, Luke!" Jesse shook his head sadly, putting a hand on his confused nephew's shoulder. How he must have worried! "The doctor was just telling me the possibilities! Bo ain't paralyzed - there's nothing wrong with him time and rest won't heal."

Daisy wrapped a sympathetic arm around Luke's back, resting her head on his other shoulder. He looked shocked.

"You're sure?"

Daisy smiled. "He was sittin' up, and wiggling all his fingers and toes just fine, the doc said. The last he said before the doctor kicked us out was that he was starving and he asked if they had anything good to eat."

Luke grinned, reassured. That was Bo, alright. He blinked back a few stray tears as Daisy hugged him again, and he couldn't believe the weight that left his shoulders at Daisy's words. _Just fine, just fine, thank you God._

**Y'know, I'm glad someone finally set Luke right - it was breakin' my heart, seein' him all worried like that for no good reason.**

Thomas Sutton stood back, smiling himself as he watched the exchange. He owed Luke and Bo more than he could ever repay for saving the lives of his sons, and he was not among the Hazzard residents who thought good or ill of the Dukes according to the tides of the charges occasionally and unfairly leveled against them. Nor was this the first time one of the Duke boys had shown up in his pastures in need of help, and he was always glad to give it.

He stepped forward, holding a picnic basket from among the supplies in the truck. "Jesse, Eleanor packed this for you all, though I'm sure it's Luke that needs it the most." He handed Jesse the heavy basket, and the Duke patriarch opened it to find it packed full of fried chicken, biscuits, corn, potato salad, and a carefully placed apple pie. Sutton reached back into the truck bed and brought out a jug of sweetened tea and a couple of blankets.

Luke, however, hungry as he was, was keenly aware of his fugitive status and the wide-open field. He pointed back over his shoulder towards the trees a few hundred feet from the fence, where the General Lee was hidden from sight. "Mr. Sutton, I'm much obliged, but we ought to move back towards cover if we're gonna be here long. They had a helicopter earlier…"

Nothing more needed to be said. Sutton handed out the supplies he'd brought - the food and drink, of course, and the blankets, but also a satchel of medical supplies he kept for his livestock and horses. He hadn't missed the bloodied bandage on Luke's arm. Then all four made their way to the trees, and Luke led the way to the General. He'd driven here along the back roads, then cut across country to reach cover, and carefully went back on foot to erase the tracks where he'd left the road.

They settled down on the soft loam next to the orange Charger. While Daisy set out the meal, Jesse explained their eviction from the hospital, and Luke held out his arm for Sutton to examine. Jesse frowned when he saw the gashes, which seeped blood again as the crusted bandage was pulled off, and Sutton whistled.

"What was this from, Luke?" he asked. He looked closely at the torn skin, and saw tender redness and puffy swelling - signs of infection. Carefully he touched Luke's forearm, and was rewarded with a hiss of pain, confirming it. He certainly couldn't stitch the gashes closed now.

"Broken glass, yesterday morning," Luke replied, wincing a little.

Sutton brought out a jar of clear liquid and opened it, and he felt Luke tense. "Just water," he said, rinsing Luke's arm with some of it and soaking a gauze pad with some more. He carefully cleaned around the cuts with the gauze, then pulled out other supplies and quickly dried and rewrapped Luke's arm in clean, sterile dressings.

"It's starting to get infected," Sutton explained as he worked, "so I can't stitch it up. You're gonna need to see a doctor within a day or two, before it gets much worse."

Luke nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Sutton, for everything," he said earnestly.

"You're welcome, Luke. Now, I'll leave you three to talk and eat. Jesse, the keys are in my truck - Lawrence should be up here by now with a horse for me, and we'll be out with the herd. You just drive on back whenever you're ready." Sutton smiled and nodded at the family's grateful expressions, and pulled himself to his feet.

"Thank you again, Thomas," Jesse said. The rancher waved over his shoulder as he set off through the trees.

A growl from Luke's stomach turned Jesse's attention back to the picnic meal spread before them. Though his nephew looked a little embarrassed, Jesse saw the way he looked at the food from the corner of his eye. Unlike his younger cousin, however, Luke wouldn't reach for a bite without Uncle Jesse's assent and grace said, no matter how hungry. Accommodating, Jesse folded his hands and bowed his head, glancing up to see Luke and Daisy quickly follow suit. His prayer of thanks was brief but heartfelt, and with an 'Amen', he looked up again.

"Go ahead, Luke," Jesse urged when his nephew finished his own prayers. "You got the look of a polecat after a three-season famine." With three missed meals behind him, Luke needed no second encouraging.

Once he'd served himself, Daisy and Jesse took up plates, grateful for Eleanor Sutton's kindness. They were quiet at first, letting Luke eat in peace, but after a few minutes he paused long enough to press for details on Bo and anything else he might have missed. Daisy was happy to fill him in, including an update on Anna, who was settled in at Sally Jo's in town. In turn, once he was down to picking at the scraps left over on his plate, Luke told them about his activities over the last few days, especially the most recent developments and his secondary reason for calling on Thomas Sutton to bring Jesse there.

The C.B. feed in the General from the Flanagan's car had long been silent, but not before Luke heard an earful after parting with Cooter. It gave him plenty to think over as he drove along looking for a likely hiding spot. Then, when he heard Daisy telling Cooter she and Uncle Jesse were headed home, Luke quickly came up with a plan to get ahold of his uncle, making his way along the heavily forested roads to the rear of the Sutton farm.

Chet had been with the brothers that morning in Cedar City, and the police had been waiting for them, acting on Luke's tip. However, the red-haired giant spotted the cops before they parked, and with David at the wheel, they fled the scene, patrol cars in hot pursuit. Fleeing Deputy-Sheriff Roy, Luke had turned on the C.B. and police scanner in time to hear Chet et. al. headed straight for him with a parade of bogies on their tail. Happy to let the thieves draw away the city's police force, Luke had taken another road and gone straight into Cedar, hoping to disappear on the other side of Choctaw County. What he didn't count on was David Flanagan losing the state police so quickly, on the back roads of Choctaw that Luke didn't know as well. Then the hunt for Luke began, while the Flanagans were off free and easy.

About the time Luke was back on the road with the General after his run-in with Cooter, the Flanagans were near reaching their destination, and true to form, were arguing about their situation.

_"How the hell did they know we were coming?.!"_ David growled angrily, having thought it over and over and still come to no conclusion.

_"Luke Duke,"_ Chet answered crossly. _"I'll bet my share it was him."_

_"Luke? How?"_ Joel asked. _"He's been on the run the same as us. How would he know where we're going? Wait, you don't think he knows about the warehouse, do you?"_

_"Why would he know about the warehouse?"_ David countered irritably.

_"Maybe his uncle told him,"_ Joel suggested, his frown evident in his tone.

_"His uncle?"_ David asked.

_"Didn't Chet say Jesse Duke used to run moonshine for his father?"_

There was a brief pause, and Luke could imagine David was fiercely looking at Chet for answers.

_"Jesse Duke never delivered to the warehouse!"_ Chet snarled defensively. _"Besides, Luke's got no way to connect you to me or the warehouse anyways!"_

_"He'd better not!" _David snarled just as angrily. _"We ain't payin' you for the pleasure of your company!"_

_"You'll pay me my cut or I'll make a couple cuts of my own, across your throats and yellow bellies!"_

_"You'll get your money, Chet! Y'know, it wouldn't surprise me if _you_ were the one to call the cops!"_

Joel held silent while his older brother shouted back and forth with their newest partner. Their source in Atlanta said Chet Goldthwaite was the man to go to for a safehouse in the area, a central hideout to operate from, but Joel wasn't sure he was worth the trouble or the money. He seemed to have an awful lot of other schemes happening on the side, and was only as trustworthy as the Flanagan brothers were prosperous.

_"Why would I do a damn fool thing like that, while I'm on the job with you?.!"_ Chet demanded.

_"The hell if I know, but we're packing up tonight and getting the hell out of Capitol City and Georgia first thing in the morning. Let the cops chase the Dukes around in circles - we'll be long gone."_

_"You're not leaving 'til I get my money."_ It was less a question than a statement of fact - or threat.

_"Well we're not paying you until we leave! You're not gonna walk away with my money and then turn us in for the reward."_

_"And you're not gonna sneak away with my money! I guess we're just gonna be awful good friends until you leave!"_

The argument had gone on another twenty minutes, with little new said and a great deal more swearing, but Luke had heard more than enough. If Jesse knew where this warehouse was, Luke could make tracks, sneak in close enough to verify the presence of the thieves and the evidence, and then call the police. He'd wait until it was dark, to avoid being seen or arrested too soon, but with any luck, it would all be over tonight.

Jesse frowned as he listened to Luke's new information and his plan, and when his nephew looked to him for a response, he sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Luke, but that two-faced vagabond is right – I made plenty of runs to Russell Goldthwaite's inn back when you kids was little, but never anywhere else. He had a lot of business connections, if I remember right, investments he was involved in, but nothing we ever discussed. This warehouse they were talking about might have had something to do with one of them."

Luke tried to hide his discouragement as his hopeful expression fell, but then Daisy spoke up.

"Well, at least we know they're in Capitol City somewhere."

Luke had to admit, that was something. But Capitol City was a big place, and it would take a good bit of searching. He'd be lucky to find them by morning, and luckier still to avoid the law headquartered there. Sighing, he leaned back against the General and picked up his glass for a drink of tea.

Glass in hand and heart thumping in his chest, he froze as a growing sound set his nerves on edge again. All three Dukes looked up. The thick foliage above, however, sheltered them from the passing helicopter as much as the afternoon sun. Still, it was several minutes, when the chopper failed to return a second time, before Jesse and Daisy relaxed. It took several more minutes for the tension to leave Luke, and his uncle and cousin had a brief glimpse at how his last few days had been spent.

Daisy packed up the remains of the picnic lunch, setting the basket in the back of the General for Luke to finish later, before settling down next to him and laying a comforting hand on his arm. Luke shivered and pulled Sutton's borrowed sheepskin coat tighter as the wind picked up and blew chill and fierce through the trees. Jesse frowned. He hadn't missed the occasional yawns throughout the meal and conversation either.

"Well, I don't know about you two," Jesse said, hauling himself to his feet, "but I'm getting mighty cold just sitting on the ground here. What say we sit in the General, if we're gonna wait here until dark?"

"Uncle Jesse, you don't have to stay," Luke objected. "I'll be fine here, you and Daisy can go on home. I'll give you a call and let you know how things go."

Jesse scowled at the suggestion. "You think I've got something better to do than keep my fugitive nephew company? Come on, boy, get on up and get in there, before you freeze your tail off."

Luke smiled as his uncle offered him a hand up, and he climbed in through the car window after Daisy. Jesse picked up the picnic blanket off the ground and put it in the back seat before awkwardly climbing in himself – grumbling about the welded doors, of course. Luke found himself in the middle of a Duke sandwich, but had to admit it was a sight warmer and more comfortable inside the General than out. He drew a deep breath and sighed.

"Now," Jesse was saying, "you've got a good four or five hours until dark, so why don't you use that time with me an' Daisy here, and get some rest. We'll keep an eye out," he promised.

Luke shook his head, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "I ain't that tired, Uncle Jesse."

"Don't be stubborn, Luke. You already told us you didn't hardly sleep last night. How do you expect to be out all night if you don't sleep now?"

"I'll be fine," Luke insisted with a wave of one hand, while Daisy traded a dubious look with her uncle.

"Luke…" she began.

"Daisy…" he countered, starting to feel irritable.

Jesse gave his niece a slight shake of his head, and she quieted. There was only one way to win this argument, and that was to stop arguing. It was gonna be a long four or five hours 'til dark.

* * *


	11. On The Subject Of Family

* * *

**Chapter 11: On the Subject of Family**

By the time six hours had passed and full darkness had settled on the woods behind the Sutton lands, Daisy had made up her mind. Of course, Luke would never agree, but that was why she wasn't going to tell him. Uncle Jesse would approve, she was sure. Neither of them wanted to see Luke running headfirst into Capitol City alone, assaulted on all sides. So she'd just make sure he wasn't alone.

Uncle Jesse was asleep, leaning his head against the doorframe of the General and snoring softly. Luke was slumped against him, the picnic blanket and a strong fatherly arm wrapped around him, sound asleep since about fifteen minutes after Jesse and Daisy had stopped arguing with him. With a full stomach and warm surroundings, his body demanded the rest he'd been shortchanged the night before. When he had no conversation or argument to consume his attention, Luke soon nodded off, much to Jesse's satisfaction. After turning the C.B. and police scanner down to a whisper, Daisy and Uncle Jesse talked quietly about the situation for a while, but Jesse was fairly worn out himself, and Daisy urged him to rest as well. She kept guard, but the only disturbance to the quiet scene in the next few hours was Thomas Sutton returning briefly to check in on them.

Now Daisy reached over and shook her cousin and uncle, wishing she could let them sleep on. But, the night wasn't getting any longer, and she'd put it off long enough. Her uncle woke easily at a gentle shake, but Luke took more effort, clearly resistant to the idea. Jesse smiled down at his nephew as Daisy pulled the blanket away and Luke shrank closer against his uncle, muttering. In another minute, though, he was awake, sitting up and blinking sleepily. He yawned mightily as Daisy smiled at him. After regarding her for a moment, and reflecting on just who had really won that argument, he smiled himself and shook his head.

"You two are terrible," Luke declared with a gravelly voice. Looking out the window, he saw how dark it had become. "What time is it?" he asked worriedly.

"It's only just dark," Daisy assured him.

"Well, I better get this show on the road."

Daisy climbed out the passenger-side window. Luke followed, stretching, and they both went around to help Jesse out. Standing next to the General, Luke faced them both, taking off Sutton's borrowed coat for his uncle to return.

Daisy stepped forward to hug him one more time. "Take care, Luke."

"I'll call in on the C.B. as soon as it's done. Give Bo my best, if I'm not back by morning."

Jesse hugged him next, proud and worried all at once. "I love you, son. Be careful."

"I will, Uncle Jesse."

With a deep breath, Luke stepped back, and looked from his uncle to his cousin. "Alright, then. Wish me luck." Then he climbed into the General. The fierce, eager roar of the engine broke the peaceful quiet of the woods, and he carefully started off, heading back to the road towards Capitol City. Jesse sighed, one arm around his niece, watching him go. Things were much easier when all he had to worry about was a cranky dark-haired toddler who didn't want to take a much-needed nap.

"Come on, Uncle Jesse, let's hurry. I'm not letting him go alone."

---------------------------------------------------------

Soon Jesse and Daisy were back at the Suttons' farmhouse, returning the rancher's truck and belongings and picking up Dixie. Daisy turned onto the road and made her way to the nearest county road heading towards Capitol City, which she knew Luke must be taking. She drove without headlights so as not to be seen, as Jesse had taught all his children in their 'shine-running days. The gibbous moon high above was enough to see the road by, and she didn't want Luke to know he was being followed. Uncle Jesse provided an extra pair of experienced eyes in the passenger seat, watching for deer and listening for approaching cars.

It wasn't long before they came around a bend and saw the red flash of the General's brake lights up ahead. Luke was similarly running dark along the county road, though he had the added advantage of the police scanner, so he knew there weren't any officers on the road ahead as he listened to various patrol cars call in to their dispatchers. He continued on to the outskirts of Capitol City oblivious to the white jeep trailing somewhere behind him. Once he reached the city, Luke was concentrating far more on the buildings and parking lots on each side of the road than on the dark road behind him.

At this point, Luke was quite accustomed to searching while he drove, after his previous efforts, so he worked his way along the city fairly quickly. Still, there was a lot of ground to cover, so between that and avoiding the occasional police patrols, his search took him into the late hours of the night. For all the seriousness of his mission, a smile crossed his face as he thought of Daisy and Jesse's reassurances about Bo, and of his own foolishness in jumping to conclusions. Uncle Jesse was always telling the boys to get right out and say whatever they needed to say, straightforward-like, but Luke was still in the habit of holding things back, to protect his own pride or someone else's feelings. This time, though, he didn't say anything at first because he didn't want to believe it – and after that, there wasn't time. But Lord, he was glad Bo was all right.

It was well after midnight and Luke was running out of places to look. He hadn't seen any likely warehouses so far, and he definitely hadn't spotted the brown sedan or Chet's green pickup. He'd avoided the very center of the city, where the hospitals and police headquarters lay, but he didn't recall anything of the sort in that area anyhow.

_Think, Luke. If the Goldthwaites owned a warehouse, where in Capitol City would it be?_

Luke pulled over into an empty gas station, closed for the night, and pulled a map out of the glove compartment. He scanned the roads and highways snaking in and out of Capitol City, mentally highlighting the areas he'd already covered. The major and minor county roads often held depots and distribution centers just outside the city, but he'd checked all of them. Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck stood up as headlights flashed on the road beside him, and Luke turned to see a city police cruiser driving up.

Thankfully, the shadows hid the General's distinctive paint job, and the patrol car just rolled on past with nary a thought to the parked Charger. Heart thumping, Luke looked back at the map, unfolding it a bit more to include Sweetwater to the southeast. With one finger he traced the major highways from the city through the county, and frowned – he'd already checked those. Luke looked closer at the map, and realized it wasn't quite complete. The old highway where the Sweetwater Café and the Goldthwaite's inn lay stretched north to south along the county, but it ended where it intersected with the new highway a few miles outside of the city.

_That's not right,_ Luke thought. The old Sweetwater highway had continued further north before turning into the city – the map was missing a good three miles of road. _And I'll bet…_ Luke set the map aside and put the General back into gear, pulling onto the empty city street.

If any neighborhood ever fit the description of 'the wrong side of the tracks', the eastern edge of Capitol City was it. The ragged old Sweetwater highway could hardly be considered a highway anymore, or a road at all, and with the tattered 'ROAD CLOSED' sign half-barring the thoroughfare, the city appeared to agree. The homes and apartments in the area had a similar ragged appearance, and more than a few long-closed stores and condemned old buildings sat with boarded windows and doors between those establishments still trying to cling to life. To Luke, it was like looking at a barren, dusty field devoid of green, where lush and bountiful crops once grew.

He edged the General carefully around the sign blocking the road and made his way along the old county highway. It was easy to see why it was blocked off. The asphalt was badly broken and cracked, with deep potholes and the ravages of winter freezing and thawing, and it was cheaper to simply close the little-used road than for the city to repair or demolish it entirely. There were a few more abandoned hovels out this way, fewer and farther between. Then long sections of rusted chain link appeared, lining large empty lots and darkened buildings in the distance.

Luke wasn't sure what made him ignore the majority of the structures he passed, but somehow he just knew he was on the right track, and his goal lay just ahead. The shadows grew deep and black, the buildings lonely with broad parking lots and barren fields between them. The General lurched over the broken road, passing a former lumber yard with cords of cut pine still waiting stacked on pallets, rotting. Then, just around a southward bend in the road, he knew he had finally found the warehouse, the Flanagans' hideout, the end of a three-day hunt.

It didn't look any different from the other buildings he'd passed so far. It was low and long, just one story with metal siding and a sloping trussed roof. An old delivery truck sat next to the loading dock, broken down, and a couple of rusted trailer hitches sat on the grass. No light shone out from the glass panes or the office door. The left gate hung half off its hinges, while the right side had rusted off entirely. The building was silent, and not a speck of dust stirred under the clear moonlit sky - yet Luke was sure this was it. Mostly because of the sign painted across the length of the warehouse, 'Goldthwaite, Inc.'.

Luke pulled off onto the side of the road well back from the warehouse, not wanting to give himself away with the sound of the engine or the red brake lights. A quarter mile behind him, Daisy pulled Dixie over as well, and she and Jesse watched Luke climb out and set off on foot. Carefully, they left the jeep and followed him.

Keeping to the shadows, Luke crept in close to the warehouse, his every sense alert for a sign of life or threat. The short length of the building showed nothing, so he made his way to the corner, and carefully looked around the back of the building. _Bingo!_ Two vehicles sat there, relatively new and distinctly out of place in the ramshackle district - a beat-up green pickup and a brown sedan. They were here. Luke could feel the blood quicken in his veins, every bit the hunter closing in on his prey. Vengeance? No. Justice. But that didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy seeing them led away in handcuffs.

From the shadow of the neighboring warehouse, Daisy watched Luke slip around to the back of the depot, but Jesse put a restraining hand on her shoulder when she moved to follow.

"Let's wait and see, now," he said softly. But after a couple of minutes, even he didn't want to hold back any longer, and he took a step forward along the shadows.

Luke, in the meantime, cautiously crept all the way to the parked vehicles. Both engines were cold, and he took a look inside the sedan. Empty. Then the metallic click of a cocked .45 Colt revolver immediately behind him stopped Luke in his tracks.

"I knew I was right," a voice sneered triumphantly.

"Oh Lord," Jesse breathed as he stepped along and the pickup truck moved out of his line of sight in the distance, revealing his nephew, hands raised in surrender, with a gun held to his spine by a fierce Joel Flanagan.

He needn't have worried. In one swift movement, Luke dodged to one side and whirled around, knocking the gun from Joel's hands and sending it skittering under the sedan. The revolver harmlessly discharged as it struck the pavement - or not so harmlessly, as it roused reinforcements to the fight. Joel got in a lucky punch when Luke started at the sound, smashing the eldest Duke cousin's nose and sending him stumbling back a few steps. Luke soon recovered and paid Joel back in kind. In another minute David burst out of the warehouse, carrying a second gun that Luke similarly disposed of, and an all-out brawl ensued.

Daisy started forward to join the fray, but her uncle held her back again.

"Daisy, you get on back to Dixie, and call the police. He can handle himself for a bit. Besides…I've got a feelin' Luke's got a few words to say to those boys on the subject of family."

**Well, if Luke don't, I know I sure do. Those boys deserve a good whuppin', and a long stay in the pen to boot.**

* * *

**Trivia Note: Can you spot the obscure reference to a Robert Frost poem?**


	12. The Ol One Two

**Author's Notes: ALERT - Of all the chapters and stories I've written so far, this one is probably the most graphic and violent. You've been warned.**

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Ol' One-Two**

Blood ran freely from Luke's nose as he swung his fist wildly, slamming into Joel Flanagan's jaw and knocking him to the ground. David was scrambling to his feet from Luke's last blow, and leaped onto the dark-haired Duke's back, throwing his arms in a strangling hold around Luke's neck. Enraged as a red-eyed bull, Luke threw him off with one fierce buck, sending him into the metal wall of the warehouse. Luke took a stumbling step backwards and regained his footing just as Joel threw another punch at him, catching a glancing blow to his face. Luke shook it off and swung ferociously with his left, blackening Joel's eye and sending him to the ground next to David. Breathing hard, Luke wiped at the blood with the back of his arm while waiting for the brothers to find their feet.

The Flanagans tried charging him together, barreling forward with shoulders set to tackle, but Luke deftly stepped aside at the last minute, grabbing David by the shirt and collar and shoving him to the ground, while Joel tripped and crashed on his own. Focused on his enemy, Luke gave a derisive snort, disgusted by their amateurish tactics. Riled as he was, the retired Marine could handle a dozen more like them. Ever the honorable fighter, though, he waited for them to regain their feet, taking a dancing step backwards as Joel vainly tried sweeping his legs out from under him. However, his adversaries were not as honorable as he.

"Get 'im, Chet!" David cried, looking past Luke.

Focused as he had been on the fistfight, Luke hadn't noticed the red-haired hulk waiting on the fringes. As it was, sheer reflex saved his life. Luke ducked and dodged just in time to avoid the full force of the baseball bat that would have crushed his skull, instead receiving only a light clip above one ear. It was still enough to send him reeling, dizzy and off-balance, straight into the arms of the Flanagan brothers. They grabbed his arms in fierce grips, holding him for Chet to finish the job. With a dark smile, he stepped forward and brought the bat back for a good swing, while Luke faced him, fierce and defiant, teeth bared in a snarl. Chet brought the bat whistling down, only to stop at the last moment, and look at David.

"What say we have a little fun?"

Luke fought the whole way as they dragged him inside. Nothing like being trapped in the wolves' own den. Just inside the door, Chet tired of the struggle and unexpectedly slammed a meaty fist into Luke's gut, driving the air from his lungs in a whoosh. His struggles were weaker as he gasped for air, and the three men were able to manhandle him to a metal post supporting the roof. There, Chet produced a length of rope, and the brothers shoved him up against the post.

Luke had started to regain his breath, though. When Chet reached for his wrist, he managed to tear his right arm free from Joel, sending the younger thief to the concrete floor. David tightened his grip on Luke's gashed forearm, spurring a shock of pain, but Luke was busy driving a fist into the elder Flanagan's jaw. David went flying, but Joel tackled Luke's knees, and they crumpled to the ground in a heap.

No sooner had Luke regained his feet than he received a second taste of burly Chet's fist. The two-against-one odds between Luke and the Flanagans had made for a rather fair fight, but Chet Goldthwaite violently tilted the scales in their favor. Luke tasted hot blood as his upper lip split against his teeth, and he staggered under the blow. Little Anna May's older brother followed up with a stronger left, leaving Luke squinting from one eye. Then the Flanagans were behind him again, trying to hold him for the red-haired hulk. Luke forcefully threw them off. His anger was starting to fade into desperation, but his punches were no less fierce. Joel went sprawling, and didn't get up.

Chet barreled after him, missing some swings, others finding their marks. Soon Luke realized he was being driven into a corner, so he dodged away, flying under Chet's arm and into David instead. The older brother had taken a breather, while Luke was panting by now, so the Duke took a few hits he might have avoided before he managed to pull clear. David Flanagan, however, had never really learned when to shut up, and he couldn't resist goading his enemy now, when he saw victory at hand.

"Tough, aren't you, Luke?" he leered. "You always were the brawn in the family. Come to think, you were the brains too, weren't you? Too bad Bo wasn't smart enough to…"

That was as far as David got, before a dark-haired whirlwind slammed into him with a whole new energy. One, two, three strikes, and the elder Flanagan was on the ground. He wouldn't wake until paramedics were leaning over him later on. Luke, however, still had Chet to reckon with - a fact he was reminded of when the brawny man gripped his shoulder from behind, painfully squeezing a pressure point.

Luke twisted around to wrench free of his grip, his right arm falling numb under the hold. He ducked back away from another heavy punch, and Chet cursed him as he hit the metal wall instead. However, Luke dodged in the wrong direction - straight into the corner. And then Chet had him.

--------------------------------------------

Jesse paced nervously in the shadows, for once unsure of the best course of action. Daisy was long gone - the C.B. hadn't reached anyone out here, so she was driving back towards the city to get into range. Jesse's heart had leaped into his throat when he saw Chet swinging that bat, and he'd broken cover then, running for the fight. None of the combatants noticed him, though, and Luke was dragged into the building, the door shut behind them. Jesse ran to it, trying the handle, but it was locked tight. He could hear the sounds of the continuing fight inside, and he smiled a little - Luke was no quitter, and he fought like the devil when roused to it.

But as the brawl went on and the silence outside persisted, Jesse grew anxious. Even Luke couldn't hold out forever against three men. Should Jesse find a way to break in? What if they tried to escape, when they found out Luke wasn't alone? Jesse could fix that, though. He quickly opened the hoods of both vehicles and yanked out every loose hose and part he could find. If those Flanagans and that Chet tried to escape, they'd be doing it on foot.

As he flung the parts out onto the open lot, Jesse's foot kicked one of the dropped guns. He could take care of that, too. He found the second gun, and carefully picked them up by the fingerguards, carrying them well away from the trucks to hide them in a scrap of shadow against the wall. The moon overhead was leaning down towards the horizon, and dawn wasn't far off. In the distance, Jesse heard sirens - lots of them. _Hold on, Luke. Just a few more minutes._

Chet had other ideas. From inside the warehouse came the most horrible cry of pain Jesse had heard in all his life, followed by another, and he knew it was Luke.

"Luke!" Jesse cried, pounding on the door. "Luke!"

A moment later, Jesse was thrown to the ground as the door flew open, and Chet came through. Blood trickled from his nose, mouth, and knuckles, and he had a look of manic ferocity on his features. The sirens were close now, and Chet looked from the old man on the asphalt to the rapidly approaching sound, while the door swung shut again behind him. With a snarl, he ran past Jesse to his truck and climbed into the driver's seat. Four times he tried in vain to start the pickup, before pounding a bloody fist at the steering wheel and scrambling out to the brown sedan. He was still trying to start the Flanagans' car when blue and red flashing lights filled the empty lot and cruiser after cruiser poured into the open space.

While troopers exited their vehicles, drawing guns and shouting orders to Chet and Jesse, the Duke patriarch was back on his feet, pounding on the locked door again.

"Luke! Luke!" he shouted. Half a dozen officers came forward and pulled him away from the building even as they slapped handcuffs on Chet, and Daisy waited behind the police lines.

"No, you damned fools, he's hurt!" Jesse shouted angrily, but they wouldn't listen, dragging him away even as he struggled.

_"Duke! We know you're in there! We've got the building surrounded! Come out with your hands up!"_ called an official-sounding voice over a megaphone.

Daisy held her uncle, looking up at him for information, but his fearful eyes were on the warehouse door.

_"Duke!…"_ The voice stopped short as the door shuddered and swung open.

Breathing hard, rapid breaths, Luke stumbled out on shaky legs, one bandaged arm across his stomach, the other held vaguely in front of him from pushing the door open. There was blood all over his face and hands, and his left eye was beyond blackened, swollen shut and bleeding. Sixteen handguns were trained on his every move. He took two steps forward and fell hard to his knees, dimly hearing the shouts - one firm and commanding, _"Put your hands in the air!"_, other more familiar voices calling his name in fear.

One frightened hand over her mouth, Daisy watched him slowly raise his arms, his face falling into a grimace of pain as troopers ran up and forced his hands behind his back. Others moved into the warehouse and shouted out their findings - the Flanagans still unconscious on the floor, and the stolen cash, nearly a million dollars in all, was packed in a crate off to one side, near a pair of cots and blankets and an assortment of discarded food containers. Luke, in the meantime, was dead weight to the men who tried to haul him to his feet, and he cried out that same terrible cry when they tried to manhandle him towards the waiting cruisers. There was no keeping Jesse back now - he broke past the line of officers, Daisy in his wake, and jogged forward to his nephew.

"Luke!"

Luke looked up with his one good eye. He'd already been shocked to hear the arrival of the police, and now he was shocked again to see Uncle Jesse and Daisy running towards him.

"Uncle Jesse?.!"

"Luke! Are you hurt? What hap…"

Luke bit back another yelp of pain as Jesse touched searching hands to his sides. Luke recognized the injury, from his boxing days in the Marines. "Chet hits like a sledgehammer," he grunted through grit teeth, "and he went for my kidneys." He hoped that was all that was wrong - a man could survive a kidney punch, but other hits to the gut were more deadly, and the way he felt…

"Well you heard him!" Jesse looked to the two officers holding his nephew up. "Get an ambulance and get him help!" he ordered, looping a firm hand under Luke's arm.

The officers realized there was something more going on than a black eye and bloody nose, and one went to call the ambulance while the other helped lower Luke back to his knees. Daisy knelt next to him, wincing to see the fight wounds on his face. Jesse stood at his shoulder, watching his hard, painful breaths, while the other officer stood at his side.

Behind the group, the warehouse door opened again, and a pair of officers emerged carrying a struggling Joel Flanagan, his hands likewise cuffed behind his back. When he saw Luke, Joel left off howling protests at the officers, and started snarling at Luke instead. Self-control didn't run in the Flanagan genes.

"You! You sonofabitch, I'll kill you for this! I'll kill you and I'll finish the job on your cousin! He's gonna regret the day we came back to Hazzard!"

Even with one eye, Luke could see the officers listening intently. "You think he doesn't already? All he was doing was making the mortgage payment, before you two walked in and kidnapped him!" Luke retorted. He spat blood onto the asphalt as his torn lip bled anew.

"Aw, you're breaking my heart," Joel sneered, struggling against the firm grips pulling him back and away. "Maybe if Bo didn't have sawdust for brains, he wouldn't have fallen for it!" The officers had heard quite enough, and shoved him more forcefully towards the waiting patrol cars. Luke glared after Joel as he was lead off, but the fight – and his injuries – had cooled his temper considerably, and he made no move towards the thief.

In another minute more wailing sirens approached - a pair of ambulances arrived, to tend to all four bloodied men. Luke's hands were uncuffed and he was helped onto a stretcher. Guarded the whole way by a state trooper, the paramedics loaded him up into the ambulance. Jesse and Daisy followed, but there wasn't enough room for them to ride along. They would have to follow in Dixie and the General.

"Wait!" Luke said as one medic moved to shut the doors. "Daisy - the tape!"

She stared at him in confusion for a moment, but then remembered what Cooter had said, about the voice recorder in the General. "I'll take care of it, Luke!" When she contacted the police, she had explained the situation to them, but they still weren't willing to let Luke go free until the evidence and stories were all sorted out - and that tape would only add to the evidence.

Then the ambulance doors closed, and with red and white flashing lights, it drove off onto the rough road into the city. Jesse and Daisy stood among the blue flashing lights by the old warehouse, at two o'clock in the morning, wondering whether things had just gotten better or worse. O' course what they don't know is, the hand of ill luck dealt out to the Dukes the minute Bo walked into that bank still had one last little petty dirty card to play.

**Boy, I don't think I like the sound of that at _all_. But hey, that was _some_ fight, huh? – I tell ya, Luke can be downright eloquent in 'splaining things sometimes, especially where his family is concerned.**

* * *


	13. Reunion

**Author's Notes: The end of another one! **

**There were several good guesses on the Robert Frost reference - and Ashti, you caught that obscure Road Not Taken reference that I didn't even think of - but the intentional reference was the description of the rotting wood stack. Frost wrote a lesser-known poem "The Wood-Pile", about a guy walking through a frozen swamp and finding a rotted pile of cut & stacked wood - it's a commentary about wasted effort and abandoned work. **

**Amusingly enough, after I wrote this whole story, I was working late one night going through the med school's academic building on campus, and among the X-rays and CT scans hanging on light boxes for the students to study was a set of abdominal CT scans from a skier who hit a tree. Why is this relevant, you might ask:-D **

**Jordyn - sorry I couldn't post before your flight. :(   
**

**Celtic Angel - boy do I wish I could just write solid action scenes with no filler! It's hard, though, 'cause then there'd be no plot. I have to force myself to write the other parts before I write the good stuff, cause if I write just the exciting scenes, I stall out and never complete the story. Needless to say, that chapter was fun to write.  
**

**Elenhin - I swear I scoured this whole thing looking for a spot where it would be convenient to mention poor Bo finally getting fed, but alas, it looks like he's starving until summer. **

**Enjoy! **

**

* * *

Chapter 13: Reunion**

No one was more surprised than Bo Duke, nearly two hours later, when he was woken up before dawn from a sound sleep to see one of the more ornery nurses of the ward pushing a bed into the room containing his rather bruised older cousin Luke.

"Luke!"

"Bo!" Luke wasn't surprised about his destination, but it was still a bit of a shock to see his cousin hale and healthy – or at least, healthi_er_.

The nurse ignored Bo while she settled Luke's bed into place alongside his own, standing between them while she hooked Luke up to the equipment to monitor his vitals. Looking at the numbers, she made some notes on his chart, and left. Bo sat up carefully, stomach still sore from that surgery, and he raised the head of the bed so he could lean back, looking over at Luke.

"You alright, cuz?"

Luke began to twist around to look at Bo, but was sharply reminded _that_ was a bad idea, and laid back again. He was clean of blood and sweat, with his stitched arm and knuckles freshly wrapped and his left eye patched and covered with white gauze. Five neat sutures dotted his split lip, and a band of tape supported the bridge of his broken nose. His left wrist was handcuffed to the bedrail, as though he might try to run away at this point, and an IV dripped fluids, antibiotics, and other medications into the veins of that arm.

Luke settled for turning his head to look Bo over instead, and he held back a laugh. Here was the little cousin he'd been worrying like crazy about all week, who hadn't been far from his thoughts and prayers for even a moment, looking worriedly down at _him_.

"I could ask you the same," Luke said, careful of his stitched lip. Bo didn't look so bad, though – his scrapes and bruises were healing, Luke could see, and he was alert and talking, obviously. His broken bones would heal in time, and wouldn't give him too much pain.

Bo was still concerned, though. "Well, what the heck happened to you?"

Since Luke knew Bo had heard the rest of the story, he quickly explained about finding the warehouse and the fight with the three criminals, ending with the arrival of the police and Daisy and Jesse's unexpected appearance.

"Dang, Luke, how bad are you hurt?.!" Bo asked, hearing his cousin deftly skim over those details.

"Eh, nothing that'll kill me, an' better off than you were, for sure! Doc said every part of me from the belt up is bruised, inside and out, an' Chet did a number on my eye, but it's not permanent. My danged kidneys are the worst of it – bruised like hell, an' hurtin' to match. It's worth it to put them behind bars, anyhow," he added.

"But you're still handcuffed," Bo observed, "and I'm guessin' since they put you in here with me, it's not out of the kindness of their hearts, an' there's still a guard on the door outside."

Luke waved a tired, dismissing hand. "I dunno. I think they believe us, but it'll take them a few hours at least to sort out the evidence. The law doesn't hunt down a wanted man for a week and then let him go just like that."

Bo yawned just then, and it occurred to Luke just how early it was and that his cousin needed to rest. He might be looking a far cry better, but he was sure to still be aching and sore. "Look, go on back to sleep, Bo. It's early still. We can worry about all this later." At least, Bo could worry about all this later. The way he was hurtin', Luke wasn't about to get any sleep any time soon, and he was busy worrying about this _now_.

Bo frowned. He wouldn't mind a few more hours of sleep, but… "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Bo…!" Luke began in a flare of temper, but stopped himself, sighing. "I'll be fine," he answered more gently. He looked over at his cousin earnestly. "I've just…I've been so worried about you, and about the police, and the Flanagans…I'm just glad you're okay."

For a moment, Luke looked as frayed and worn as he felt, and Bo reached his good hand across the space between the beds, holding it out for Luke's. Luke felt unexpected tears prick his eyes as he grasped his cousin's hand, warm and comforting, thinking of that first afternoon and how scared he'd been for Bo. He sniffed slightly, but Bo pretended not to notice, and Luke smiled as Bo waggled his hand lightheartedly.

"I'm alright, Luke. Everything's gonna be fine," Bo reassured him confidently. "Now, you better get some rest, too. The nurse here is a real tyrant."

Luke smiled again, letting Bo have his hand back, and closed his eyes with a sigh. Satisfied, Bo lowered his bed back down again and settled against his pillow, letting himself drift. Within a few minutes Luke could tell he was asleep, and the elder cousin opened his eyes again. No, there would be no sleep for him, but his cousin's words were enough to strip a week's worth of worry and fear from his heart.

--------------------------------------------------------

When Doctor Meadows arrived in the ward for his 8am shift, he glanced over the floor's patient list, bringing himself up to date on their conditions and the new arrivals. In particular, he checked the listing for room 611, and mentally groaned when he saw the name 'Duke, Lucas K.' listed just below 'Duke, Beauregard L.'. As he stepped out onto the floor to make his rounds, Meadows prepared himself for the argument of the century with that Jesse Duke. _No, I'm sorry, Mr. Duke, the state police are limiting access to your nephew - both your nephews - until such time as…_

Surprisingly, there was no argument, because Jesse and Daisy Duke weren't there, anywhere, on the floor or in the hospital. Early that morning, they had visited Luke in the emergency room before he was sent upstairs. Reassured that he would be alright, especially in the same room as Bo, his family left in the company of a state trooper, to convince the police and the D.A. to drop the charges against the boys. Room 611 was quiet when Meadows entered, clipboard in hand. Bo was still asleep, but Luke looked at him with curiosity as the doctor approached his bedside, a bit more alert than the doctor expected.

"Good morning, Luke," he greeted with a quiet voice. "I'm Doctor Meadows. How are you feeling?"

Luke gave a pained expression. "Like I've been kicked by the mule," he groaned. It had only gotten worse in the last few hours.

Meadows frowned, glancing down at Luke's chart. Then he set the clipboard by his patient's feet. "Can you sit up for me?"

"Do I have to?" Luke's tone was not unlike that of a wayward boy who'd just been told to drop his britches – he knew the answer to the question, and knew what was coming was going to hurt.

Meadows held out a helpful hand and gripped Luke's shoulder with the other, helping him sit up as gently as he could. Luke stifled a cry of pain, and the doctor frowned deeper. With his patient holding onto his shoulder for support, Meadows pulled back the edges of Luke's hospital gown to have a look at the twin black bruises spreading across his lower back. The contusions boldly stood out among the other bruises of varying color extending along his ribs and stomach. That was to be expected, and his CT scans looked textbook normal for the injury. However, Luke was in far more pain than he should have been, and his heart was racing.

"Good Lord, Luke!" Bo was awake, and had a good look at his cousin's back himself.

Luke didn't reply, grimacing as Meadows helped lower him back down flat. A thought occurred to the frowning doctor.

"Luke, do you know when the nurse was in here last?" he asked very, very quietly.

The elder Duke cousin shook his head. "No one's been in here since they brought me in."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure."

"Alright. Relax, and I'll be back shortly."

"Easy for you to say," Bo barely heard Luke mutter as the doctor walked out of the room. Bo didn't say anything - if his cousin had been short-tempered before, he definitely didn't look like he wanted to answer any questions now, and Bo wouldn't make things worse for him.

Hardly five minutes later, Meadows returned with a deep frown and sad eyes, and a metal tray holding a syringe and a small brown glass vial.

"What's that?" Luke asked as the doctor began to fill the syringe, trading a look with Bo.

"This is the four milligrams of morphine you were supposed to get three hours ago, and every time you're hurting so bad you can't move after that. I'm sorry for the error."

"_Error_?" was all Luke managed to stammer.

Meadows nodded, administering the painkiller to Luke's IV port. "Now, this might make you a little sleepy, and that's alright. _But_, when you're starting to hurt again, let one of the nurses know. Pain does nothing to help the healing process, and there's no need for you to have it so bad when you're in _my_ hospital."

"Thanks, Doc." Luke's relief was evident. That constant gnawing ache was just…going away. He breathed easier, his heart stopped thumping, and pretty soon he was no longer tempted to perform his own double nephrectomy with the first set of plastic silverware he came across.

After the doctor left, Bo peered anxiously over at his cousin. Luke's good eye was closed, but Bo didn't think he was asleep. "Luke?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah, Bo?" Luke looked up, reasonably alert. He wouldn't drive anywhere like this, but speech and thought were not beyond him at the moment.

"Are you _really_ alright?" Bo waited for the annoyed response, but Luke just smiled a little.

"Better now than I was, but yeah, I'll be alright."

Bo fell silent, not wanting to disturb his cousin, but Luke spoke up again.

"Hey Bo?"

"Yeah, Luke?"

"Say somethin'. It's too quiet in here."

Bo smiled. "Like what?"

"I dunno. Anything. Tell me where you ran off to Sunday afternoon. You said you'd tell me Monday morning, an' then I got sick."

Bo grinned, levering his bed upright again. "Oh, that! I'd clean forgotten…"

Luke smiled, listening as his cousin launched into his tale. The latest girl he'd been chasing after had finally agreed to a serene Sunday picnic, which led to a serene Sunday drive, which led to a serene Sunday chase.

"Rosco was so mad, he came up out of that ditch sputterin' and shoutin' like all get out…" Bo laughed, holding a hand to his ribs, but he quieted when he looked over at his cousin. Luke had fallen sound asleep listening to the sound of his voice.

Later on, Luke was still asleep when an aging man with neatly combed gray hair and an austere suit entered the room. He was, he explained to Bo, the director of the hospital, and he was there to formally apologize to Luke, and to inform them both that both their bills would be entirely taken care of by the hospital. He seemed nervous when Bo pressed him for the reason, but - as the law required - he reluctantly explained that according to Dr. Meadows, the nurse's earlier oversight on Luke's care was no oversight, but appeared to be intentional neglect. Her husband was the state trooper censured for his sympathy for the Dukes – for allowing Bo to have visitors - and it was her petty revenge. She had falsified Luke's records by _recording_ that she'd administered the correct medications, when she purposely hadn't. Bo got the idea the director thought they might sue the hospital.

"Well, when Luke wakes up, I'll talk it over with him," was Bo's equivocal answer to the suited man. The director gave him nervous thanks, and beat feet to leave.

**Whew! Y'know, if that's the last bit of trouble in store for ol' Luke...well, I'm gonna count him lucky, 'cause I was thinkin' of somethin' a _whole_ lot worse.**

Later still, Luke woke to the sound of a conversation between Bo and another man in a suit. This one was middle-aged, with a neat, hawk-like visage, and a yellow notepad in his hands. When they noticed Luke was awake, Bo introduced the man as the assistant district attorney. He was there to interview both Bo and Luke, though he already had most of the details from Daisy and Jesse. It was the last step in the process of sorting through the evidence Luke had enabled the police to secure.

He was already well convinced of the Dukes' innocence, but had to complete the formalities, as well as building his case against the Flanagans and their accomplice. The brothers were new in his books, but Chet Goldthwaite had long been on the watch list for any number of criminal activities. The warehouse had been the center of his operations, and plenty more evidence turned up in their search. Add assault and battery to armed robbery, and all three were going away for a long, long time. Later on the state police would decide Luke and Daisy in fact deserved the reward money for the capture of the three criminals. That money paid for more than a few expenses, including hiring a bit of help for the spring planting. The remainder went to the county orphanage, as always, because all three of the Duke cousins were acutely aware of their own childhoods and their luck in having Uncle Jesse there to raise them.

Even Bo was growing tired by the time the a-D.A. left, but in just a few minutes, the best visitors of all entered the room: Uncle Jesse, Daisy, and Cooter. The five of them talked and traded notes for another hour and more, until Bo was completely bushed and Luke was hurting again and Doctor Meadows chased everyone else out.

It wasn't until the next day that the charges against Bo and Luke were officially dropped. By now the media was busting at the doors again, painting the Duke boys as heroes tragically wronged in the pursuit of truth, justice, and the American way. The hospital director jumped on that bandwagon, flaunting the fact that the hospital was paying their bills while thoroughly suppressing the actual reason why.

Two days later Luke was released to his family's care, which mostly involved bed rest and all the mother-henning he could stand. Bo was released another week later, because of his badly broken leg. Even after he was home, he was consigned to a wheelchair for a month, which made things interesting in the Duke home, to say the least. Luke was back on his feet a few days after his cousin came home, and within another week Bo was challenging him to races to the mailbox and back - with Daisy pushing him. The first time, Luke let them win, but after that…

Anna May Goldthwaite visited the Duke boys in the hospital and at home, ever thankful for Luke's help and for really showing her Chet's true nature. When she was going through Chet's papers at her home, looking for evidence to help the a-D.A., she came across copies of her father's and mother's wills, which left everything to their responsible, industrious daughter. Chet had been keeping the truth from her for years, and binding her to him with it. Now she was working hard to clean up the country inn, to reopen it for honeymooners and vacationers. She still worked at the diner, some nights, because she loved the work, the customers, and her friends there. Enos shyly visited Bo and Luke in the hospital as well, apologizing for thinking the worst of them. They forgave him, of course – what else could he think, with everything in the papers?

On the first day of summer, the Sweetwater Inn held its official grand opening, and the Dukes stood at Anna's side as she cut the ribbon - including Bo, who was walking with a cane and hoping to discard that as soon as his physical therapist would allow. They stayed for a celebration dinner, and wished Anna all the luck in the world. Luke kept in touch with her. Last he heard, by the end of the summer, B.B. Davenport was sweet on her, making weekly trips to Sweetwater County and thinking of moving his garage down that way.

All in all, things turned out all right. Especially when you consider it all started when Bo had to go make the mortgage payment on his own, one Monday in February.

**And _that_, friends, is the end. Next time you make your way to Hazzard, I'm sure _you'll_ think twice before walking into the bank - but if you see a pair of Duke boys in the General Lee, be sure to give them a wave for me, would ya?**

**THE END**


End file.
